Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Tuesday, 3 December 2019

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Supplementary Estimates for the Public Services 2019
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I appreciate the question regarding the cost and understand why the Deputy might ask it. I do not have the breakdown he asked for in terms of insurance and staffing costs. It may be possible to get those data. What we do have is just the average cost, as I have already described.

With regard to the cost of renting private facilities, but not so much the cost of insurance, I understand there is not a significant difference between costs incurred by Tusla and the voluntary and community providers by comparison with the private providers. The exception is where a facility may be able to have only one child, two children or four or five children, depending on the level of need of the children there. Even though the numbers of children may vary, I understand that there still needs to be a similar level of cover in terms of staff. That is one of the challenges, I believe.