Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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7. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if adequate professional personnel are in place to meet the needs of children or teenagers needing counselling, emergency care accommodation or other back-up services; the most commonly sought-after service; the extent to which this is available to young persons; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3198/16]

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To what extent is the Minister is satisfied about the availability of support services for children at risk, for whatever reason, whether economic, family, insecurity and how quickly those services can be deployed?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I welcome all the young people in the Visitors Gallery who have joined us. In 2015, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, provided funding of €5.8 million to voluntary organisations offering a range of counselling and support services to children and families, including marriage and relationship counselling, child counselling and bereavement counselling. The funding provided by Tusla focuses on the development of support services within the community to assist children and families in dealing with difficult periods in their lives and to enhance family stability.

Children who are not in the care of their parents or guardians and present as out of home to emergency services have their needs assessed and, if appropriate, are received into care under the Child Care Act 1991. Tusla compiles and publishes an annual report, the Review of Adequacy, which reviews the adequacy of the child and family services provided as required under the Child Care Act 1991. According to figures from the 2014 report, there were 1,018 children aged 16 and 17 in care on 31 December 2014. On the same date, 16 children aged 16 and 17 years old were accommodated under section 5 of the Act.

Tusla provides a range of services aimed at addressing emergency situations in the area of child welfare and protection. In the main, these emergency situations arise out of hours. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that Tusla commenced the new emergency out-of-hours social work service last November. This service allows An Garda Síochána to contact a national emergency social work out-of-hours phone service for general advice or consultation.

Tusla child and family services are very much demand led and the services requested vary depending on levels of need and support required. My Department receives monthly and quarterly performance reports from Tusla which are available on its website.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. To what extent is a service available to teachers, who may be the first to spot something that requires attention? How quickly can the system respond to the concerns expressed by a teacher about a home situation, bullying or a variety of things? Is there a need for an improvement? What is the most commonly sought-after service for children and teenagers?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In respect of the various situations the Deputy has outlined there would be a range of services available. In particular schools there is access to counselling services. There is the child and adolescent mental health service, CAMHS. There are youth clubs with mental health facilities provided by Jigsaw, which is very early intervention. It is run in such a way that young people can go in as if they were going to play pool or music or hang out and there is a discrete area where they can see a counsellor for advice and help.

Deputy Durkan mentioned the teacher. In relation to more serious issues, I want to reassure the House that where there is a serious and imminent risk to a child that a teacher has identified, that child will have a consultation with a social worker before he or she goes home. No child at high risk will be left unprotected. However, the high priorities that we allude to when we talk about high priority are cases perhaps where children are already in care in a safe environment but they do not have an allocated social worker.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Is the Minister satisfied that the extent of the support services available right now is sufficient to meet the current and future demands?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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In many instances, the supports would benefit from improvement. That is the Government plan and that is why additional resources are going into this area. As the population grows, there will be a need for more investment in this area.

I would not stand here and say that everything is perfect in the services. They are far from perfect. We have come through the worst recession the country has ever endured. We have had to tighten our belt in a way that we never had to previously. With the economy recovering, with more people coming back to work and more resources for Government, this is an area of priority for Government. It is not only about getting the economy to recover. It is about using the economy as the engine to repair and strengthen our society.