Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire as ucht an fhreagra sin agus as ucht an ardaithe mhóir de €38 milliún sa bhuiséad do Tusla don bhliain seo chugainn, agus cuirim fáilte roimh sin. I certainly welcome the increase in funding of €38 million for Tusla this year. I commend the Minister for that and for bringing the figure up to €676 million. I also welcome the €19 million provided by Tusla to the organisations which carry out vital work in relation to physical and sexual abuse, €4 million of which is for the Rape Crisis Centre. In a recent reply to a question, the Minister stated that future planning for domestic violence and sexual violence services will seek to address gaps and avoid duplication. I suppose my concerns relate to the level of consultation and engagement that is taking place, hopefully, between Tusla and the organisations. It is particularly important to avoid the problems which arose when Tusla decided to change the system of collecting statistics and information, which is clearly vital for delivering and designing such schemes. This decision impacted on the Galway Rape Crisis Network, which was previously undertaking this work.

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