Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to acknowledge that there are issues here that need to be addressed. The Minister and Tusla’s CEO have met and discussed the issues of supports to foster carers. The Minister recognises that foster carers, like many others, are experiencing cost-of-living pressures now. Both the Minister and Tusla want to respond to this in a positive and meaningful way. There is interaction going on now. The Minister is committed to pursuing all options and will work with Tusla in the coming months to do everything possible to make some support available on this, as has been done for other groups in society.

Separately, the Tusla board has considered a major improvement plan for foster care, covering a wide range of issues. The Minister is committed to working with Tusla to give certainty to implementing the steps set out in that review. There are immediate things we can around access to child benefit, the back-to-school allowance and the once-off payments. I have discussed this with the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform as well. We need to do something here. I would like perhaps for the Minister to meet with the group initially, but I will see what I can do.

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