Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the Minister and her officials and the opportunity to contribute to the discussion on the allocation of funding in 2013 for an extremely important Department. I propose to briefly highlight a number of issues.

I note the Minister proposes to increase the allocation for the child and family support programme. The purpose of the increase is, undoubtedly, to meet the costs of rolling out the Child and Family Support Agency at the start of 2013. Will the Minister update the select sub-committee on the position on the legislation establishing the new agency? I understand industrial relations issues have arisen with clinical psychologists who do not wish to transfer from the Health Service Executive to the new body. Perhaps this is one of the reasons for the delay in establishing the agency. Will the Minister clarify the position in this regard?

There appears to be a significant reduction in the allocation to meet the running costs of the Child and Family Support Agency. Will the resources provided be adequate to ensure the new agency which all Deputies support will be fully functional? I compliment the Minister on the work she has done in establishing the new body, but it must have sufficient resources to work properly. Will she indicate whether it will have a financial overhang from the HSE? As I have indicated on a number of occasions, it should commence operations with a clean sheet.

On the sectoral programme on children and young people, while I welcome the commitment from the Minister to retain the free preschool year introduced by the former Minister of State with responsibility for children and youth affairs, Mr. Barry Andrews, it is disappointing to note a 50% cut in the allocation for the early intervention programme. Only two weeks ago the childhood development initiative in Tallaght launched a report in the Mansion House, for which the Minister wrote a highly complimentary foreword. Many similar initiatives are in place, including a project in Ballymun which received a special mention in the programme for Government. Unfortunately, the Government has proposed to cut funding for early childhood interventions by 50%. The Minister consistently notes the importance of early intervention in terms of child protection and the provision of support for young people. The proposed reduction in the allocation for this programme is a retrograde step.

The Minister referred to the early childhood payment and indicated that she might, for legal reasons, be required to make allowance for the payment in the expenditure allocations for 2013. The Estimate does not include any such allocation. Therefore, I ask her to clarify the matter.

In 2012 an allocation was made to meet the costs associated with holding the constitutional referendum. In view of the challenge being made to the referendum result, is it necessary to make an allocation for this purpose in 2013? On the decision made by the Supreme Court, will the Minister comment on who made the decision to publish-----