Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As the Taoiseach said, Tusla was established to improve children's services. He said it was well funded, yet Tusla recently cut funding to Rape Crisis Network Ireland and women's centres and said that part of its problem was that it did not have the funding.

The Irish Timeshas a report today about a HIQA review of Tusla inspections last year, and I have read the executive summary of this review. HIQA found inconsistencies in the safety and quality of children's services and said that this caused major concern. It also found significant delays in assessing the needs of children and families where there were reports of suspected abuse or neglect. There was evidence that children at risk of harm did not have timely access to social workers or vital supports, and others who are dealing with children, including teachers, have told me they have the same difficulty in getting timely access to social workers or vital supports. The Taoiseach should read the report, or at least the executive summary. HIQA says it is concerned that management systems may not be adequate to provide consistently safe services. Some services cannot meet the needs of children with challenging behaviour and, as a result, HIQA is to commence a review of Tusla's governance arrangements in 2015, which I very much welcome.

The question is what the Government is doing. It has failed to implement key recommendations of the independent child death review in 2012, a point the Taoiseach did not respond to in his earlier reply. Now, HIQA is so concerned about governance arrangements in Tusla, the very body that was set up following the scandal of the deaths of so many young people in care, that it is to commence a review of these arrangements. Does this not call into question the Government's child service strategy, including the funding of services? Would the Taoiseach not recognise this as a crisis and explain how he proposes to deal with this crisis?

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