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

I welcome the opportunity to respond to the issue raised by Deputy Troy here in the Chamber. As he is aware, the family resource centre programme was established in 1998. It was overseen by the former Family Support Agency up to the transfer of responsibility to Tusla and its establishment in 2014.

Above all, I want to clarify that the decision regarding the inclusion of an organisation in the family resource centre programme is a matter for Tusla as the body with responsibility for the administration of the programme. Up until this year, there were 109 family resource centres in the programme. Two centres are operational in County Longford and they are located, as the Deputy knows, in Granard and Ballymahon.

Family resource centres are independent voluntary organisations that deliver universal services to families in local communities, based on a life-cycle approach. The centres seek to combat disadvantage and to provide supports for the improvement of family life. It is a programme that also emphasises the involvement of communities in tackling the problems they face, working inclusively with service users and creating successful partnerships between voluntary and statutory agencies at a community level.

In the budget of 2018, I secured an additional €3 million for Tusla to support the family resource centre programme. It provided funding to be used to support existing centres and to expand the programme to include 11 new centres.

Following a public application process in March of this year, Tusla announced the 11 centres which are being included in the programme. It advised me that the quality of applications received was of a very high standard.

The criteria considered in assessing the applications included the size and make up of the geographical area, the social and economic conditions of the area and the overall breakdown of the population that would avail of the centre. The criteria also considered the structure of the organisation applying to the programme, the objectives and targets of the organisation, the organisation's current relationships with other stakeholders and the inclusion of research, evidence of community projects and local needs assessments with the application.

Tusla received a high number of applications for inclusion in the programme. One of these was from a group of organisations in Longford town. Tusla was faced with a difficult decision-making process in selecting 11 new centres for inclusion in the programme having regard to the selection criteria which I described. I understand that many stakeholders were consulted by Tusla as part of this process, including regional Tusla staff and local children and young people's service committees, CYPSCs. I am sure the Deputy will be interested to know that Tusla has commissioned an analysis of child and family services in the midlands counties of Longford, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. This analysis is currently underway. This work will seek to identify and map the current service provision for children and young people in these four counties by location and by level of need. This analysis will also utilise existing data from the Central Statistics Office and other research in providing a map of the population of young people in the midlands. The final report will identify services available to those young people and is expected to highlight any current issues within those services. Tusla and Longford Westmeath CYPSC will review the findings and take them into account as we move forward.

Tusla is acutely aware of the level of need in certain areas of the country and is actively working to improve outcomes for children and young people. Through its commissioning approach, Tusla plans to deliver, and is already delivering, services in an efficient, equitable and sustainable manner in the context of the family resource centre programme but I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to support the work of family resource centres.

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