Mary Butler (Waterford, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I direct my question to both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. On page 81 of the programme for Government it is stated the Government is committed, with Tusla, to providing targeted intervention services for children. The Waterford unit of the ISPCC is being closed on Friday, 1 December. It is manned by 35 volunteers and two full-time staff who take 30,000 calls a year and support 20 families annually with a unique mentoring service. Tusla provides €9,000 but the cost of running the unit is €100,000. I appeal to the Minister and the Taoiseach for a four-week stay on the decision to allow a solution to be found by 31 December.

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