Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister with responsibility in this area, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, is well aware of the issues the Deputy has raised. As I stated in my previous presentation, the gap last year between expenditure and income was approximately €62,000. That has to be plugged. The lead agency in bringing together other agencies is the Child and Family Agency. FÁS, Pobal and the HSE will all be brought around the table to determine whether we can identify how the deficit can be plugged in circumstances where there have been reductions across the board, as I fully accept. It is crucial that the service remain for the children and, as the Deputy rightly said, the excellent staff who provide such a wonderful service to them. The Minister is fully briefed on this matter and that is why she has asked the Child and Family Agency to bring all the funders together to determine whether we can work this problem out. The sum of money in question is not huge and I very much expect and hope that the problem will be resolved sooner rather than later.

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