Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she is satisfied regarding the adequacy of her Departmental budget to meet its full range of requirements in the coming year with particular reference to new and/or anticipated responsibilities arising in the aftermath of the passage of the Referendum on the Rights of Children and any existing or consequential legislation; if she will set out her main objectives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56661/12]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As a result of budget 2013, I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the gross funding allocation for my Department next year will amount to €443 million, which represents an increase of €16 million or 4% over the 2012 Estimate provision of €427 million. This includes €417 million in current expenditure and €26 million in capital expenditure. I am satisfied the significant resource allocation demonstrates the priority and commitment which the Government, and my Department, attach to the delivery of programmes and services for children and young people.

I know the Deputy will appreciate the economic context in which my Department is operating. Like every other Department, we have had to make savings. While I regret that situation, I must operate within those constraints and try to decide on priorities within the available budget.

There are implications in terms of both policy and legislation attaching to the proposal to amend the Constitution, with a significant body of work likely to be involved in amending existing legislation, introducing new legislation and review of policies and procedures to ensure they comply with the new improved standards for children. It is not just my Department that will be required to do this, as any Department offering services to children and young people also will be affected. For example, the Department of Justice and Equality, which holds responsibility for custody and guardianship legislation, will also face a significant body of work.

Some of the principles in the constitutional amendment already are reflected in statute law, such as the principle of "best interests". This "best interest" principle is already well-established in Irish statute law, for example in the Child Care Act 1991 and the Adoption Act 2010. This principle is now reflected in the Constitution as the paramount consideration for judges in making decisions in certain critical court proceedings relating to the care of children. As part of the constitutional proposal, I published the Adoption Bill 2012 which it is envisaged will be introduced to the House, subject to a successful outcome to the referendum. This will place new obligations on the Adoption Authority of Ireland among others and I am satisfied the budget allocation for 2013 will be adequate to meet expenditure that arises in this context.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

In terms of the Deputy’s core question on the question of resources, everyone in this House will be aware we all are operating in an environment of very constrained resources. This is the reality of the context in which I seek to deliver on all my commitments with regard to children and young people. As part of its efforts to address Ireland’s deficit, my Department, like all others, has been obliged to find savings. However our overall approach has been to prioritise investment in child and family services and to reform funding streams and delivery mechanisms to make the best possible use of resources. The Deputy will be aware of the wide-ranging reform of children's services that is under way and will see the establishment next year of the child and family support agency dedicated to the improvement of these services through the combination of the activities and resources of the Family Support Agency, the National Education Welfare Board and the child and family services of the HSE. The agency will have available to it a much stronger and more comprehensive range of resources and expertise than heretofore.

The focus of the agency will be on early intervention and family support services aimed at delivering proportionate responses to child welfare concerns and to protect children in the home, as envisaged by the constitutional amendment. This approach will be supported by the inclusion of the existing Family Support Agency and its nationwide network of 106 family resource centres. In addition, I am pleased to state the new area-based approach to child poverty initiative, for which €2.5 million has been provided for in the 2013 Estimates, will build on and continue the work of the prevention and early intervention programme, PEIP, which supported projects in Tallaght, Ballymun and Darndale. These projects involve a range of pilot programmes to improve outcomes in areas such as literacy, speech and language, parenting, health and pro-social behaviour.

I assure the Deputy that follow-through on the proposal to amend the Constitution is a top priority for me and I will make the necessary resources available within my Department to do so effectively.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for her comprehensive reply. Does she foresee a situation in which further responsibilities may be thrust upon her Department arising from the passage of the recent amendment to the Constitution in respect of children or relating to issues that concern parents of children, such as the vulnerability of many children who appear to be the subject of cyber attacks, bullying, threats or whatever the case may be? Does the Minister believe there is a need for an embellishment of the role of her new Department, as it emerges, to deal with such issues, which she has inherited? In stating that, I do not attribute blame to anyone as it simply is a fact of our times. Is the Department of Children and Youth Affairs fully aware of the need for children and young people to be reassured and that in the context of youth services, this would be part of the role she envisages for her Department?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy raised broad questions on young people in Ireland and it is true that Irish childhood has in many ways changed beyond belief in respect of the progress of children, for example, in the changed attitude to violence and the opportunities many children have. Nevertheless, it is clear there are some highly vulnerable children in our society who need the kind of support to which the Deputy refers. The Government needs to be highly alert in this regard and this is not simply an issue for my Department but is cross-departmental. It is very important that the Departments of Education and Skills and Health, as well as my Department, should work together as is the case, for example, in respect of bullying and working with the anti-bullying forum and in ensuring, as the Minister, Deputy Quinn is doing, that increased funding is being provided for initiatives in that area. He also intends to launch, in conjunction with the Minister of State, Deputy Kathleen Lynch, stronger guidelines in respect of mental health issues in schools. There have been some very tragic cases recently and it is important to bring in the supports at an early enough stage to those children who are vulnerable.

This is the reason the new Child and Family Support Agency will focus on prevention, on identifying those children and families and on making sure that, as I indicated to Deputy Healy earlier today, the family resource centres and the supports they offer are working with the agency to ensure we get those services to young people when they need them. I will also ensure that the funding streams for the youth services will be reformed. I take the Deputy's point and I believe the youth services around Ireland are doing a wonderful job in engaging with some of our most marginalised young people. In addition, I pay tribute to the Garda diversion programme, which has been hugely successful but does not attract much attention or recognition. A huge amount of support is being given to young people, unfortunately, not always successfully as Members will have seen in the child death report and more recent reports. However, these initiatives will make a difference to the children to whom the Deputy referred.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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As three other Deputies wish to ask questions, I ask for brief questions from Deputies Finian McGrath, Ó Caoláin and Troy.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I have three brief questions. Did I hear the Minister state earlier that her Department's budget was €443 million?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Yes.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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What percentage of the €443 million is spent on wages and administration compared to front-line services? Deputy Durkan and many others have raised the issue of cyber-bullying. Another issue is the amount of serious assaults on children taking place in Irish society that is not even reported to the Garda. I welcome the Minister's comments about the Garda diversion programme, which is excellent, but every day I get complaints about 12-year-olds and 13-year-olds being seriously assaulted with knives by gangs. Such incidents concern small issues like mobile telephones, etc. It is a miracle that many children are not seriously and horrifically injured. This societal problem is emerging.

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I can appreciate that the Minister would be concerned but I wonder if she is in a position to give the House any assurance on the funding that will follow in the advent of the Child and Family Support Agency. We know from the supplementary budget secured by the Department of Health that there was an element of the €360 million allocation that impinged on identified needs to get to the end of the year with regard to areas that I hope will transfer to the Minister's Department in good time. There is also the €781 million in cuts to be implemented across the health budget and the HSE. Has the Minister any expectation or, more importantly, assurance that none of those cuts will further impact on areas that will ultimately be under her Department's responsibility and control in the early part of 2013?

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The Children's Rights Alliance has indicated that, on balance, children were among the key losers in this budget. I could go on further with comments but will not because I must be brief. Children and family services already carry a deficit of over €50 million. I have asked the question before and will repeat it today. Must this deficit be carried into the new Child and Family Support Agency? What kind of impact will that have on a new agency that is trying to start from a clean sheet and fresh approach? The Minister has received support from this side of the House in that regard.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I accept that. Deputy Finian McGrath mentioned violence, taking in both children who are carrying out and who are subject to violence. I agree that the issue is serious. I must repeat that the best way to deal with the matter is to quickly identify vulnerable children and provide the best possible early intervention services. The research is interesting regarding high-quality early years, and it relates to the issues mentioned by the Deputy, including violence and addictions which lead to assaults. These are considerably reduced when attention from child care services is given to people at an early stage. Equally, the Garda diversion services have a role to play with those young people, and it is important that there is engagement.

Many youth work services around the country now specifically work with the more marginalised young people. It is interesting that there are fewer children and young people coming into detention. Those who are 16 years of age no longer go to St. Patrick's Institution and they will be in a purpose-built detention centre with appropriate services for those who, unfortunately, reach that point. Prevention is the key with the issues raised by the Deputy.

Deputies Ó Caoláin and Troy spoke about budgetary matters and much work has been done. Some of the figures quoted by the Children's Rights Alliance regarding the agency are incorrect and I will discuss that with the alliance. The 2013 provision for children reflects the work that has been done during the year in establishing as accurate a budget as is possible. There has been miscoding of expenditure, which is one of the reasons for a slight change of €5 million.

For example, some adjustments had to be made in respect of expenditure for child and adolescent mental health, which was mistakenly included under the Child and Family Support Agency budget. Some of the changes, therefore, reflect differences in categorisation.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister provide information on the matter?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Yes, I will be pleased to provide the Deputy with the relevant information. As he will be aware, when I first assumed responsibility for this budget last year it was €72 million overdrawn, which is an extraordinary figure. Significant progress has been made in this regard. For example, the Government allocated an additional €40 million last year and major efforts to achieve savings this year resulted in a reduction in expenditure of €20 million. I expect the low overspend towards the end of this year will be carried forward to the agency. However, given that the overspend was €72 million at one stage, substantial progress has been made.

Extra demands are being placed on the service. For example, decisions must be taken in respect of children who require special care and these will give rise to considerable expense. I am in favour of recruiting more foster families who would be in a position to provide high quality care to such children at a different cost. The option of residential care is extraordinarily expensive and the outcomes are not very good in some cases.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Have the lessons learned from the tragic incidents of recent years to which the Minister alluded given rise to an arrangement or agreement within the Department? Do any of the Departments with responsibility for this matter have an early warning system or other mechanism in place to alert other Departments to the possibility that children are at risk, whether at school or in the youth services? Such an approach would result in greater co-ordination and a rapid response.

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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One of the most useful initiatives we took last year was to republish the Children First guidelines with a manual to ensure people understand the issues when children are at risk and know when to refer children appropriately to child and family support services and child protection services. Significant work has been done by the various agencies involved in this area. Teachers, for example, have done much work to ensure child welfare concerns are referred to the appropriate services. Sporting organisations have also been active and I recently attended a morning organised by the GAA for people from all over the country.

The usual procedure for Departments is that individual cases would be referred to the Health Service Executive and child and family services. This is how children in such circumstances are identified in the first instance. In terms of policy issues, which I understand are what the Deputy has in mind, a great deal of cross-departmental work is being done. Bullying is one area where Departments are taking joint initiatives to ensure a cross-departmental approach is taken. Such an approach will succeed in helping children.