Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I expected several questions on Tusla. It is a primary focus and I feel very confident that we are moving in the right direction.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy I have secured an additional €40 million for Tusla. This is the third year in succession that Tusla has received an increase in its funding, which now amounts to over €753 million. It has embarked on a significant recruitment programme to deliver the necessary assessments, family supports and care to all children being referred for welfare or child protection reasons.

I wish to assure the Deputy that with the current available staff all urgent and emergency cases are dealt with immediately. These include situations of abandonment or parental ill-health and the need to find an immediate placement or a threat to the safety or life of a child by a third party.

I am very aware of the need for Tusla to recruit more social workers, social care workers and family support workers to deal with the number of cases which cannot currently be allocated. The additional investment of €40 million in 2018 will allow Tusla to recruit a mix of staff to respond to areas of identified risk and to meet increased demand for services. This includes resources for responding to expected increases in referrals following the introduction of mandatory reporting, as well as the management of unallocated cases and the further development of aftercare services.

Tusla will also recruit administrative staff to support social workers in their child protection duties. The extra funding will also be used to establish a single national out-of-hours social work service, providing enhanced joint working with An Garda Síochána, additional on-call social work capacity and a new out-of-hours service for foster carers.

I strongly support the work of Tusla. I am committed to providing resources to meet the growing needs of children and families. The higher increase I have secured for Tusla in budget 2018 means that resources are available to meet the priorities in the years ahead.

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