Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am very pleased to be here, together with my outstanding officials, to discuss my Department’s Revised Estimate for 2018. In my opening statement I will provide a summary of what is included in each of the programme areas and may not need to do so again when we come to discuss each of those areas.

As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I remain completely committed to ensuring the full delivery of the programme for Government commitments. I want to see an Ireland in which the rights of all children and young people are respected, protected and fulfilled; in which their voices are heard; and in which they are supported to realise their maximum potential now and into the future. Of course, we all know that if we work to allow them to achieve their maximum potential now, it will influence what happens in the future.

The Revised Estimate for my Department for 2018 provides for a gross funding provision of €1.383 billion which represents an increase of just under €73 million, or 6%, on its 2017 allocation. As a result, during 2018 my Department will spend €1.355 billion on current expenditure and €28 million on capital expenditure. This is a significant investment of taxpayers' money. My Department and its agencies are charged with the delivery of a complex range of policies, legislation and children's services. To achieve better outcomes for all children and families, I am sure Deputies will agree with me that we must invest wisely in key services. I remembered this well in negotiating the Estimate for 2018. I, therefore placed particular emphasis on ensuring a solid financial base for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, together with priority areas for its development. I also prioritised continued investment in quality early years education and care services. These two areas comprise 90% of my Department’s Vote. I also prioritised a number of other key elements, to which I will refer.

I have allocated €754 million to Tusla, which represents an increase of €40.6 million, or 5.6%, on the allocation for 2017 when the increase on the allocation for the previous year was €37 million. I have allocated €485 million for early years education and care services, which represents an increase of €20 million, or 4.3%, on the allocation for 2017.

The Vote also contains almost €62 million for youth services - €59 million in current funding and €3 million in capital support. These resources will fund youth services throughout the country, including services for those at risk of disadvantage. They represent an increase of €1.5 million, or 2.5%, on the allocation for 2017.

Other key expenditure figures include €28 million to meet the operational costs of the Oberstown children detention campus. I wish to say a few words about that investment. When I visited the campus on Tuesday, I was very impressed by what I witnessed and heard from the seven young men whom I met, as well as the director, Mr. Pat Bergin; the chairperson of the board of management, Professor Ursula Kilkelly, and some of the other members of Mr. Bergin's senior team. They talked to me about the young men on the campus advisory council, the equivalent of a student council, and what they had achieved. They had put in place a framework for the council. This is the first time ever in a detention centre that young men have worked with my Department in identifying standards which will feed into the reform of standards in the Oberstown centre. They spoke to me about the Gaisce awards they had received. They also talked to me about the random acts of kindness week in the school. They mentioned the various fundraising events in which they had participated, be it for the hospice or the Irish Cancer Society. They raised almost €2,000 in the past year. I promised them that I would mention this during the debate on the Estimates because I was very proud to meet them. Yes, they come from troubled backgrounds, but they are beautiful young men. Based on what I saw, I believe the investment - that is what we are talking about - is paying off.

To return to the Vote, €18 million has been allocated to meet the operational costs of my Department, €9 million for the area based childhood programme, €6 million for the intervention programme for children and young people, €4 million for the Adoption Authority of Ireland and just under €3 million for the Office of the Ombudsman for Children, all of which have seen an increase on the respective provision for 2017. In each case I am satisfied that the extra resources are justified and that the respective agencies are capable of delivering on the objectives set for them.

During the negotiations on budget 2018 I worked hard to achieve increased resources for the priority areas I had identified. I am pleased that, as a government, we can back up our stated commitment to children and young people with increased resources, targeted at the areas where we want to make a real difference in the lives of children and young people and their families.

During the past few years I have been working to put Tusla on a firm financial footing and to give it the resources necessary to implement some key improvements to services. The €40 million extra for the agency this year means that it can continue to address a number of major concerns, including implementing the mandatory reporting provisions of the Children First Act, addressing my continuing concerns about unallocated cases, rolling out the national child care information system and supporting critical areas, such as private and residential foster care, and services for domestic, sexual and gender based violence, and child homelessness.

I have long been committed to the expansion of Tusla’s out-of-hours social work service. Tusla’s financial allocation for 2018 means that this will become a reality. It involves integrating the three existing out-of-hours services into one national service with a national contact number, and an out-of-hours call centre for all foster carers. I am pleased that this initiative will ensure that all parts of the country will have access to a social work service on a 24-7 basis.

In the area of family supports, which cover prevention, protection and welfare services, I was pleased to able to fund an additional 11 family resource centres, and I will make an announcement about that next week, as well as providing increased funding to expand the excellent services provided by the existing 109 centres as well.

I am placing great emphasis on reforming the school completion programme to ensure that it is organised to best effect with a new governance structure. I believe that the programme does extremely important work with some of our most vulnerable young people, and I want to ensure that it is supported and developed in the years ahead.

In the area of early years, I am pleased that we have been making progress in the supports for parents of young children. Since my appointment one of my key priorities has been to address the historic under-resourcing in the area of child care.

As we are all aware international evidence is clear that investment in children during their early years results in long-term gains to children, families, the economy and society generally. I could not help thinking about that when I was in Oberstown.

In recent years the significant increases in resource provision has enabled my Department to advance a number of key reforms and 2018 represents another significant step forward in ensuring access to quality, affordable, and accessible early years care and education.

The ECCE scheme will apply effectively for a full two years from September 2018, and it currently benefits some 110,000 children. This will peak at about 126,000 children by April this year. In addition, there has been a huge uptake of the measures I introduced last September in advance of the affordable child care scheme. In 2017 we had an uptake rate of some 98%, or 68,000 registrations of children. The most recent figures available to my Department indicate that the registrations have now exceeded 70,000. I briefed the joint committee on 24 January 2018 on the progress we have been making to introduce the full affordable child care scheme and I will be able to set out a more specific timescale on it after the vendor for the new IT system has been appointed.

Among the legislative priorities that I will pursue this year are the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 [Seanad] which passed Second Stage in the Seanad some time ago; the Childcare Support Bill 2017, which passed Committee Stage last week. I thank members for their co-operation and contribution. This Bill, when enacted, will give statutory effect to the affordable child care scheme. The Children (Amendment) Bill which will form the basis for major reforms of the current guardianad litemscheme and service.

I know the members of the select committee share my ambition to have all three of these important Bills enacted as soon as possible.

In conclusion, I believe that the significant increase in resources under my Department’s Vote for 2018 brings great opportunities for a targeted development and improvement of services. I will work closely with Tusla, my own Department and all of the stakeholders to achieve the best possible outcomes and the best value for money. We have made very good progress and I look forward to working with members to continue that in 2018 and in the years ahead.