Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
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33. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the way in which the additional financial resources apportioned to Tusla announced in budget 2018 will be deployed. [43904/17]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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As storm Ophelia was, unfortunately, quite hard on east Cork, Deputy Sean Sherlock is not able to be here. The question is very much related to the previous ones. It concerns the general way in which the additional financial resources apportioned to Tusla will be deployed.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am fully aware of the difficulties in County Cork. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have allocated an extra €40.6 million to Tusla for next year. This will bring its allocation to more than €753 million in 2018. It is higher than the extra €37 million allocated in 2017. I will shortly issue Tusla with its 2018 performance statement in line with the provisions of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 and it will then prepare a business plan for 2018, setting out its proposed main areas of spending. I have already indicated to it that among my priorities for 2018 will be: actions to support mandatory reporting under Children First from 11 December this year; addressing the gaps in out-of-hours services; and further investment in family resource centres in local communities that deliver services to families, especially in disadvantaged areas across the country.

I am pleased that the extra funding secured will also allow Tusla to recruit over 300 staff, reduce the number of unallocated cases, improve ICT and advance developments in areas such as domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, adoption, aftercare, and homelessness supports. I am pleased to be able to support Tusla in this way in a major programme of service development and reform.

A more specific breakdown of funding happens in the process of preparing a business plan. More generally, however, I can say approximately €15 million will support existing services which also concerns recruitment. A further €10 million will be used to build up front-line service capacity and recruit 140 staff in critical areas, including the management of unallocated cases; aftercare and special care services. These are just some of the breakdowns I could offer to the Deputy.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Like my colleagues who spoke previously, I, too, am very concerned to ensure a significant number of social workers will be recruited specifically in the area of child protection. The Minister gave the figure of 185 social workers going through the recruitment process. I know that last year the goal of achieving a 60% reduction in cases to 2,700 by the end of 2016 was not, in fact, reached. Perhaps the Minister might give us an indication as to where we are in that regard.

I am not sure if my next question falls under the heading of Tusla or whether it comes directly under the auspices of the Minister's Department, in which case she may not be able to answer it today. Last year the Department had to step in to assist with ABC programmes because of funding difficulties. The Minister will be familiar with this issue from her constituency. I am very concerned to ensure the programmes will be able to continue because of the work done in disadvantaged communities, in particular. Will funding be allocated to support children who are homeless? Again, as I am not sure if this comes within the remit of Tusla, I may be straying from the question.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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On children living in emergency accommodation, the same supports will be available to them as they move from hotels and bed and breakfast accommodation into family hubs. Tusla does have some responsibilities in that regard. There has been a lot of investment in family resource centres throughout the country. Existing centres will be able to apply for up to €10,000 in additional funding for their work in 2018 and we will also initiate 11 new centres.

Part of their focus will be on linking in with family hubs in their areas to ensure there are ongoing ways of supporting children in accommodation in that context, for example by bringing their prevention and early intervention services to them.

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I do not know whether the ABC question is relevant because I am not sure whether it comes under Tusla. I would be very interested to hear if there are plans to ensure these programmes are protected.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I apologise for not having time to answer the Deputy's question in my previous reply. As I indicated in response to another Deputy, I have secured funding for 2018. The programme is under evaluation by the centre for effective services. I would expect a report to be delivered to me in the near future so I can review the evaluation of the impact of this provision. So far, the signs are positive. If the evaluation is positive, we will review the overall approach to see whether it is something we wish to continue. For example, we will look at the exact locations. We will consider whether we want to open it up and, if so, whether sufficient resources are available to facilitate this. We will think about other ways in which we can support the overall ultimate aim of reducing children's poverty in disadvantaged communities.