Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy will be interested to know that, for example, there are 614 young people between the ages of 18 and 21 years in receipt of aftercare and involved in education and training courses. There has clearly been a change in terms of the awareness of the needs of this group. Of course, it is important to point out that not every young person leaving care will be in need of aftercare. Some will obviously not want it or will just want to do their own thing and move on. There will also be quite a number of young people in the care system who will turn 18 and remain with foster families.

The Deputy's question points to the need for even more careful analysis of the figures. As I said - this is an issue I have had to confront across a number of areas - we need better quality information on precisely what is happening to young people who leave the care system. We are beginning to get this information. We are also beginning to see increased budgets and provision. Given the vulnerability of some young people in aftercare, as we saw in recent reports, we have to ensure we provide the very best quality service we can in order to help them make that transition from care.

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