Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Leas-Cheann Comhairle for selecting this important topical issue. It is an issue I have tried to raise on a number of occasions and one I raised by way of a parliamentary question to the Minister and in correspondence with her Department on a number of occasions. I was somewhat disappointed to realise that a deputation on this issue was met last week and Deputies who are helping to keep the Minister in her position were not informed about it or invited.

Recently, the Minister's Department was allocated additional resources for new family resource centres across Ireland. I understand 11 centres were selected nationally. It is unfortunate that a multi-agency application submitted by Attic Youth Cafe, Longford Community Resources Limited, LCRL, Longford County Council, Longford County Childcare, Barnardos and Longford Women's Link was refused. I understand they put forward a comprehensive application to the Minister's Department. I believe it scored very well and passed all the procedures and process within Tusla. I am told that the only reason it was refused is because there were not enough additional resources to meet their application. That is somewhat surprising given that this application serves an area of high deprivation. The only marginally worse part of the country is part of Donegal and Limerick city. I believe this particular area would benefit greatly from a family resource centre. How were the 11 chosen ahead of this application chosen? The Minister might update me on that. I would appreciate it also if the Minister could give an undertaking that this application would be considered favourably in the next round of funding.

When the Minister met the delegation from Longford last week they highlighted, in the absence of a family resource centre being made available for the urban town of Longford, that at a very minimum what needs to be addressed is the chronic need for a childcare facility for an area servicing MacEoin Park. MacEoin Park is a very disadvantaged area. The income threshold of the 130 houses is approximately €28,000 annually. The lone parent ratio is 59.3%, 51.8% have only a primary education and 78.2% are living in local accommodation. Until 2016, there was a childcare facility servicing this area but that is no longer the case.

It must be acknowledged that Longford County Council has done extraordinary work supported by funding from the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government in the past two years. It has entered into a regeneration project in this area. I believe it has brought approximately 18 houses back into play and it has given the general area a face lift. However, now that we have more people living in the area we need the services in that area to support the people living in it. What is more important than a service for early childhood education? We know the early stage is critical from an intervention point of view. They are the most formative years in a child's life.

I understand the Minister gave a commitment last week to review this issue. I welcome that and fully support it. As previous commitments have been given regarding MacEoin Park I ask her to be honest with this application, give it due consideration and, hopefully, she will be in a position to make the necessary funding available without any further delay.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I welcome the opportunity to respond to the issue raised by Deputy Troy here in the Chamber. As he is aware, the family resource centre programme was established in 1998. It was overseen by the former Family Support Agency up to the transfer of responsibility to Tusla and its establishment in 2014.

Above all, I want to clarify that the decision regarding the inclusion of an organisation in the family resource centre programme is a matter for Tusla as the body with responsibility for the administration of the programme. Up until this year, there were 109 family resource centres in the programme. Two centres are operational in County Longford and they are located, as the Deputy knows, in Granard and Ballymahon.

Family resource centres are independent voluntary organisations that deliver universal services to families in local communities, based on a life-cycle approach. The centres seek to combat disadvantage and to provide supports for the improvement of family life. It is a programme that also emphasises the involvement of communities in tackling the problems they face, working inclusively with service users and creating successful partnerships between voluntary and statutory agencies at a community level.

In the budget of 2018, I secured an additional €3 million for Tusla to support the family resource centre programme. It provided funding to be used to support existing centres and to expand the programme to include 11 new centres.

Following a public application process in March of this year, Tusla announced the 11 centres which are being included in the programme. It advised me that the quality of applications received was of a very high standard.

The criteria considered in assessing the applications included the size and make up of the geographical area, the social and economic conditions of the area and the overall breakdown of the population that would avail of the centre. The criteria also considered the structure of the organisation applying to the programme, the objectives and targets of the organisation, the organisation's current relationships with other stakeholders and the inclusion of research, evidence of community projects and local needs assessments with the application.

Tusla received a high number of applications for inclusion in the programme. One of these was from a group of organisations in Longford town. Tusla was faced with a difficult decision-making process in selecting 11 new centres for inclusion in the programme having regard to the selection criteria which I described. I understand that many stakeholders were consulted by Tusla as part of this process, including regional Tusla staff and local children and young people's service committees, CYPSCs. I am sure the Deputy will be interested to know that Tusla has commissioned an analysis of child and family services in the midlands counties of Longford, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. This analysis is currently underway. This work will seek to identify and map the current service provision for children and young people in these four counties by location and by level of need. This analysis will also utilise existing data from the Central Statistics Office and other research in providing a map of the population of young people in the midlands. The final report will identify services available to those young people and is expected to highlight any current issues within those services. Tusla and Longford Westmeath CYPSC will review the findings and take them into account as we move forward.

Tusla is acutely aware of the level of need in certain areas of the country and is actively working to improve outcomes for children and young people. Through its commissioning approach, Tusla plans to deliver, and is already delivering, services in an efficient, equitable and sustainable manner in the context of the family resource centre programme but I can assure the Deputy that I will continue to support the work of family resource centres.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I welcome the feedback the Minister has given me relating to family resource centres but I did spend two minutes specifically raising an issue concerning the deputation last week. I would appreciate if in her reply, the Minister could update me about her thoughts on that. She mentioned the criteria used in the assessment of applications such as the size and make up of the geographical area. Longford is a very big provincial town so one would imagine it scored well there. Another criterion includes the social and economic conditions of the area. As I said previously, according to the Pobal deprivation index, despite all the stringent improvements that have been made in County Longford over the past number of years, there are still areas that are identified as disadvantaged with only Donegal and Limerick city performing marginally worse so, again, one would imagine that Longford would score quite well. Another criterion about which the Minister spoke is the organisation's current relationships with other stakeholders. As I said, it was a comprehensive submission. There were multiple stakeholders including the council, Longford Community Resources Limited, Longford Women's Link, Barnardos and the Attic Youth Café. A whole spectrum of people in County Longford were being served so I am at a loss to understand why it was not in the original 11. We will go through this further. I might come back by way of further parliamentary questions.

Could the Minister relay to me on the floor of the Dáil her commitment to review in a very positive manner the application to provide child care services for McKeon Park because the State has already invested heavily in the regeneration of McKeon Park? It is an area that badly and urgently needs it because there is no further capacity in the early years setting across all of County Longford and this area is being deprived. By depriving this area, we are not giving the children of this area the adequate start in life they deserve. Whether or not someone gets a good start in life should not be based on their geographical area and I know the Minister accepts that. I would welcome it if the Minister gave positive support on the floor of the House that this will be reviewed urgently and positively and that the people of Longford can look forward to a facility there in the not too distant future.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am very happy to answer those supplementary questions. The first question involves the application from the various groups for another family resource centre. As the Deputy notes, there is an impressive list of people who came together to make that application. I am familiar with all of those organisations and can imagine, although I would not have seen it, that they put in a very good and strong application. I mentioned two things in my response. The first is that I do not make the decisions. Tusla makes the decisions with regard to the criteria I have outlined. The second thing is that I am very much of the view that the family resource centres are a really fine way of moving our supports and services for children to people throughout the country and where people, particularly those in different agencies, work together to provide services in a holistic way. They are working really well. In the last budget, I looked for a way to support the development and the numbers of those family resource centres as well offering some initial supports to the ones that already exist. Although not exclusive, it is really a very strong model for the future way in which we deliver children and family services throughout the country. What I am happy to say, which I said to the organisations I met, is that I will be looking for additional investment for family resource centres in terms of my negotiations for 2019 but that is something about which I cannot comment further.

I am aware that the child care service in McKeon Park has closed down. I am also aware that my Department is making strenuous efforts to re-establish the service working with the Longford County Childcare Committee as well as other people, including the local authority. In addition to what the Department is already doing, I have committed to having a meeting with Tusla to take a look at Tusla's understanding of some of the issues along with Longford County Childcare Committee and my officials as the next step to see if we can get moving on this in terms of responding and re-establishing the service as a next step.