Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Wednesday, 18 December 2019

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs

Insurance Cover for Crèches: Discussion

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Absolutely. I wanted to address one other issue that the Minister mentioned. It was not the personal comments about my press releases; it is to do with the comments on the critical, high, medium and low categorisation with Tusla, which she brought up in her opening statement. She said it is a compliance level for themselves as regards reaching the bar and so on. I have a response from Tusla dated 8 October. I asked for a definition of the terms "critical", "high", "medium" and "low". It is not the risk ratings, which I also have in my hand. Risk ratings are where a service has not been reviewed or there are risk notifications taking place. It is important just to have it noted. A service that is categorised as "critical" has been escalated to the national registrations and enforcement panel, which is the process to remove an unauthorised service. A service categorised as "high" is under deliberation on the management by the panel, which has not advanced to the commencement to removal or prosecution. We are using these conversation pieces at the moment in respect of critical and high and risk ratings. That is the barometer for how Tusla the regulator is managing up and down. It is a fluid system and I take totally on board what Mr. Lee said. At the same time, they have to have a barometer and that is how they are defining it. That is my understanding as to what it is about.