Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank Deputy Rabbitte for her questions and will come to Deputy Ó Laoghaire's point in a moment. The first questions were about Tusla dealing with historical cases and the particular expertise required to do so. It is an excellent question. Tusla is setting up an expert team to deal with historical cases. The chief executive officer wrote to my Secretary General last Friday to indicate it would be happening perhaps as a result of ongoing engagement and particularly the Deputy's engagement with the committee.

With regard to the 60% of all referrals to Tusla which are directed to family support services, this area is also being developed.

The Deputy asked a question on ICT, which I appreciate very much and know is a particular concern of hers. Let me outline where things are at and why it is such a challenge. In 2017, the funding that Tusla requested for the national child care information system has been provided with capital funding of approximately €4 million to support the development and roll out of it. It is scheduled to roll out to at least three additional areas in 2017 and roll-out of the system nationally is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2018. The question then is why the progress of the roll-out has been so slow. To identify the number of technical issues that have hindered the project's progress, it was essential to ensure that all users of the system were on a single domain so information could be integrated and shared. It was also important to ensure networks were upgraded to facilitate the use of the NCCIS and progress has been made in resolving these technical issues, which it is anticipated will facilitate the continued roll-out of the system in 2017. It is also helpful to know the project requires formal approval at all stages from the peer review group of the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. Tusla also had a formal meeting with the peer review group of NCCIS in February 2017. It is awaiting approval to progress to the next stage of the project. We are seeing this in lots of different instances in my Department and across Departments. When there is a roll-out of an information technology system of such magnitude, there are not only technical issues but several layers of management of the process. Within the Department or agency, a project management board usually oversees it and there are potentially peer review processes as well. There is also the Office of the Chief Information Officer, OCIO. Unfortunately many of these roll-outs are slower than what was anticipated initially but I have tried to provide the Deputy with information on their ambition and with all the supports what will be happening in 2017. We want to get it right.

The Deputy also asked questions about family resource centres. There are 109. I was much helped by meeting with representatives of the family resource centre network recently. They raised a number of issues on what would enable them to continue to develop. We have been able to provide some additional funding for 2017, in other words, a slight increase in funding. They identified funding issues and what is really required for them to move towards sustainability and increase the reach of their work. The allocated funding in 2016 was €13.51 million. They identified a need for significantly more money for that. They talked about the need for at least three staff members in each centre. We are aware of that. They indicated the budget will not be increased in 2017. That is what I meant to say. Tusla will be increasing funding for the FRCs in the 2018 Estimates. I am working with them to look at how to build the argument for that, particularly in terms of the ways in which their prevention and intervention work can reduce the need ultimately for the unallocated cases on the other end. The issue of unallocated cases is significant both politically and for the Government. It is a particularly useful argument to use as I move into 2018 to support those efforts and their call for multi-annual funding. Tusla provided once-off funding at the end of 2016 of €1.422 million. They raised issues with me on child care facilities for many of the family resource centres and the challenges they have in the context of working within a community. I am bringing those specific concerns into ongoing conversations with the Department in terms of community-based services and the challenges they are having.

I am encouraged to say that Tusla has a new organisation development plan for the NCCIS for 2017 and a new director of the ICT structure.