Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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5. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the retention of the family resource centre national programme is an issue he believes to be of paramount importance to his Department; and if extra funding will be provided to ensure this is maintained. [35509/15]

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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Is the retention of the family resource centre national programme an issue the Minister believes to be of paramount importance to his Department and will additional funding be provided to ensure it is maintained?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As stated previously, on its establishment on 1 January 2014, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, took over responsibility for the family resource centre programme which was operated by the then Family Support Agency. Tusla is spending €13.09 million in 2015 in supporting 109 family resource centres nationwide, and as I stated earlier, funding has been maintained this year at 2014 levels. Tusla very much values the work of the resource centres and recognises the positive impact of their work in supporting families and local communities. Family resource centres provide an holistic service of child, family and community support as well as advocacy to children and families in their communities. I welcome Tusla's intent to improve and build on the strengths of the family resource centre programme in meeting its mandate for community-based early intervention and family support.

As the Deputy will be aware, I announced a significant increase in the funding allocation for Tusla for next year. Tusla will have available to it approximately €676 million in funding, representing an increase of €38 million over 2015. The precise level of funding to be provided for family resource centres now will be considered by Tusla in developing its business plan for 2016, which will be sent to me for consideration. Since its establishment, the Government has attached particular priority to supporting vulnerable children and families and the significant increase in funding being made available to Tusla next year represents further evidence of its delivery of this intention.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. While I welcome the increase in Tusla's budget, one must recognise it had been underfunded, and when one dishes out that money across all the various Departments, it does not account for an awful lot. Family resource centres are an integral hub of communities and are engaging with increasing numbers of people each month. Family resource centres provide an excellent service for vulnerable children. The average cost of dealing with a child in its services is extremely low, at approximately €2,200, and when one compares that with the prison system, it provides very good value for money. However, its core funding since 2011 has been cut by approximately 17%. How will the Minister ensure the operational funding for the family resource centre national programme is excluded from the commissioning process? How will he prioritise the reduction in child poverty in Ireland with regard to the family resource centres?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In respect of the funding for Tusla, I believe its request pertaining to unallocated cases and its business plan to deal with that was met fully. As for its overall request for funding, the agency had concerns about some incoming legislation and its possible cost, but if one reads the statement on Tusla's website, and I will paraphrase the last line because I cannot remember it precisely, it more or less acknowledges the additional resources will put Tusla on a solid footing in delivering its core services. There always is a need for more money. Tusla could always spend more money but one thing about recent years has been the decisions of the Government about various areas to ensure the recovery. It is all very well to pick a single area and one could consider health, child care, policing or education as all these areas suffered as a consequence of the recession that Members are aware was caused by the previous Government, albeit not in its entirety as there were international effects as well. This is what is at the core of the debate in the Chamber today because ultimately, if the economy is delivering the income to the Exchequer, the Government can then invest in these services in education, health and, most important from my perspective, child care and family resource centres. However, to pretend one has a bottomless pit of money or the pot was full when the Government took office when in fact it is known Ireland was bereft of any money and its international reputation was in tatters is to be a little fantastical. I do not direct those comments at Deputy McLellan.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, United Left)
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Choices were made over the past five years.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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As I pointed out, the family resource centres have had their core funding cut by 17%.

I have been informed morale is at an all-time low because 60% of the agency's funding comes through fund-raising. That time spent on fund-raising would be far better spent on providing an excellent service to vulnerable children. Does the Minister agree prevention and early intervention are far better than fire-fighting in the long run? Will he agree that no business can exist without the ability to plan ahead for at least the following year and that core funding for the services needs to be ring-fenced within Tusla to enable it to do that?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Tusla engages regularly with the Family Resource Centre National Forum. Earlier this year, the forum highlighted its wish to discuss various issues, including recent changes by Tusla to structures and funding, among other matters. Tusla had a productive meeting with the forum on 7 July last in which the following items were discussed: closer local liaisons between the family resource centres and area managers; more recognition of family resource centres in Tusla's corporate plan; the classification of the family resource centre programme as a national structure supporting child and family services; family resource centre representation on local child and young person services committees; the addition of two new family resource centres to the programme; staffing and budgetary issues within the family resource centres; and the possible impact of Tusla's commissioning strategy on the family resource centres. Several other issues were discussed as well.

Tusla is in close contact with the Family Resource Centre National Forum and appreciates the work it does. I await Tusla's business plan to see how it will apportion spending this year to the centres. I agree with the Deputy that early intervention is critically important, whether it be health or child care. That is why I am keen that we invest money in the ECCE, early childhood care and education programme, and why I also welcome the planned introduction of paternity leave. The first year of a child's life is critically important in terms of bonding. Anything that interferes with that should be addressed.