Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I will come back to the Deputy with the exact figures. My recollection is that on an annual basis, we are looking at about €17,000 per year for foster care. The figure for residential care is over €100,000. This is without talking about the value for the child, but in terms of pure value for money foster care is of much more benefit to the State. It is, of course, for the vast majority of children far more beneficial. That is why I have taken significant actions to support foster care in terms of the change to the allowance, in particular. We have also engaged quite extensively with the Department of Social Protection on the pension issue. I will come back to the Deputy with the explicit figures on the difference in annual cost to the State for foster care versus residential care because it is a dramatic difference.

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