Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The joint committee looked at the issue of foster care. I cannot remember if the Minister has appeared before it regarding this topic but I think we have potentially slotted him in at some point. He should expect an invitation. The committee has looked at this issue and has not finished all its hearings on it. I definitely agree there needs to be a more joined-up approach and thinking because the other side of it is we have people we can potentially keep out of the foster care system. That is ultimately what we want to see. We should consider tying in the home support services Tusla runs with the school liaison service and so on. We always need to tap into services, such as school completion, for which I am a big advocate. That is also part of it, when we are trying to avoid the foster care system at all costs.

When we looked at this issue at the joint committee, Senator Ruane made some very good points about supports for families who do not want to see their children go into foster care. Maybe something has happened in their lives and they are trying to get back on the right track but they are not always given the level of support they may need. A piece of work needs to be done on how we bring it all together. It always worries me that we may take the privatisation road when we do anything. Going down the route of private, for-profit agencies is not where I would like to go. I do not think the Minister would like to see us going down that road either.

See this speech in context