Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs about her Department's responsibility for children who are placed in emergency homeless accommodation; if she will address concerns that neither her Department nor Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is responsible for putting into place special care plans for children experiencing homelessness; and the level of monitoring Tusla is carrying out to ensure that homelessness does not have a detrimental effect on these young persons' development. [15260/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I am very concerned about the welfare of homeless children. While various Government Departments have responsibilities in the area, I want to ensure that we have an effective approach across all sectors.

In recent weeks, I have met with representatives from a range of organisations, including Focus Ireland, Threshold, the ISPCC, and the Peter McVerry Trust. Those meetings provided me with a valuable opportunity to become acquainted with those working directly with families who are homeless and to gain an insight into the key issues facing children who are in emergency accommodation with their families. Based on these discussions and those with the relevant statutory agencies, I am seeking to define a set of measures to better support children with their families in emergency homeless accommodation. I am committed to developing the most appropriate policy responses in conjunction with my Cabinet colleagues. My Department and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, have responsibility specifically for child welfare and protection concerns. The accommodation needs of children who are in the care of their parents, where the family is homeless, is the responsibility of the local authorities.

Tusla is very much aware of welfare issues for families and has engaged in multi-agency working on this issue. Close working between agencies is vital. Tusla and the Dublin Region Homeless Executive are shortly to sign off on a joint protocol which includes guidance on working with families where child protection concerns arise within emergency homeless accommodation. I anticipate that the protocol will be in full operation this month. Tusla has also appointed a homelessness liaison officer to lead on its engagement with homeless services, particularly in respect of child protection issues. I will work closely with my colleagues in Government and with all relevant agencies to ensure that we address this issue as a matter of major importance.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. I am delighted that she referenced the role of the local authorities because on reading my brief, I could not believe that there was no role for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in respect of homelessness and local authorities. This is a major concern throughout the country, not just Dublin. We must look at taking Tusla into that because there are serious welfare issues. While there might not be child protection issues, there are welfare issues because there are profound effects on the development of homeless children in terms of access to school, the GP, the family and the social network. It even affects simple things like play dates. During a meeting of the Committee on Housing and Homelessness, we heard about how one mother had to take four bus journeys to get her child to school. She could not afford the return journeys so she stayed there all day. The Department needs to work very closely with the local authorities.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I very much agree with that. The Deputy focused on local authorities. I know that Tusla is very concerned about ensuring that it works closely with local authorities. In addition, I had a meeting with the director of Tusla in order to look again at some of the measures it has put in place to be proactive in its care for homeless children. I have already mentioned the homelessness liaison social worker. An education welfare liaison role will replicate the education welfare home-school liaison service. A person has been identified and Tusla is working to get them in place.

In addition, family resource centres provide a ready infrastructure to support families and are proposing a greater mapping of these vis-à-visthe locations where the families are being housed so that they can provide a more specific outreach to the families. Two organisations funded by Tusla within its existing budget are also coming together to provide a package of summer projects for children living in emergency accommodation.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Unfortunately, I feel Tusla has a reactive role in respect of homelessness. I welcome any intervention the Minister can make in terms of giving it an active role to play in respect of children in emergency accommodation. According to an article inThe Irish Timeson 24 May 2016, more than 1,000 children are in emergency accommodation. I hope the Minister agrees that we can push this forward because Tusla has an important role to play in this area. In the past, it had a more dormant role in respect of homelessness and working with local authorities. I am glad to hear the Minister say that she is looking at appointing different people. We need to look throughout the entire country in our appointments.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Again, I very much agree with the Deputy in terms of initiating and building on some of the newer elements of a proactive approach. This is what I would like to see as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. Tusla plays a significant role in that regard. My officials and I also held a meeting with the Minister for housing, planning and local government and his officials this morning. We are looking to add significant value to the action plan for housing he is developing, particularly in respect of a chapter on children and homelessness that covers not just the policy commitments, but the actions in that action plan in which we will be involved. We have an ethical obligation to do more. We are trying to develop a whole-of-Government approach and will focus on family homelessness as well as young people in aftercare.