Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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4. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the necessary funds will be made available to an organisation (details supplied) in order that it can continue to offer both the residential care and the early intervention family support service to families and vulnerable children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46128/18]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The value of early intervention for vulnerable young people and families is beyond question. All NGOs and organisations working in this area agree and I have seen the Minister at some of their gatherings, including a meeting of the Children's Rights Alliance at which the undeniable value of early intervention was discussed. In that context, my question is really a plea to the Minister to make funding available to the Cottage Home family support service in Shankill. The service needs just €400,000 to keep going. It has been funding itself from the proceeds of the sale of the Cottage Home in Tivoli Road, but that money is now running out and the service is under threat if it is not funded by the Minister.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for his question about the Cottage Home family support service, which provides family support services to children and families in the south Dublin area. The organisation also provides a residential care service for young people and, in 2018, Tusla is providing €1.6 million in funding for the residential component of this service. I have received correspondence from several Members of the Oireachtas, including the Deputy, on this matter. I have also received detailed correspondence from the management of the Cottage Home detailing the nature of the valuable work the organisation does, the cost pressures it is under and the reasons it wishes to receive State funding for its family support service to ensure its sustainability.

While the provision of family support services is a matter for Tusla, I have raised with it the concerns of the Deputy and others regarding the future funding of this organisation. I have been informed that the family support service has been in operation for a number of years and, to date, has been privately funded by the Cottage Home. It has not received funding from Tusla or the Health Service Executive, which provided child and family services prior to the establishment of Tusla in January 2014. Tusla acknowledges the value and benefits of this service in the community it serves and has advised me that its service director and the area manager are familiar with and have visited the services provided by the Cottage Home. At the time the Cottage Home made a request for funding, available resources for family support services had been allocated to services in the area. However, Tusla has advised the Cottage Home to apply for funding through one of its funding streams, including support for counselling, which would assist in the provision of some of its services.

Tusla is currently compiling a services commissioning plan in order to assign resources to areas of the greatest need and ensure the best possible outcomes. Requests for funding from the Cottage Home will be considered in this context. The planning process will help inform any future spending in the area based on evidenced needs. Tusla has invited the Cottage Home to be involved in stakeholder consultations on the planning process early next year. As previously highlighted, Tusla is committed to working with service providers in the area to ensure services are available to vulnerable children and families.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I welcome the Minister's reasonably positive response and acknowledge her response to my previous correspondence. However, there is uncertainty here because the private funding from the proceeds of the sale of the Cottage Home on Tivoli Road is running out. There are six qualified staff here and they are, frankly, saving the State a great deal of money. This is the important point about early intervention. It is estimated that every child who has to go into State or residential care will cost the State €200,000 a year. Here we have a service with six qualified staff, which has dealt with over 150 young people in its few years of existence, keeping many of them out of residential care and saving the State money, and it is asking for what is really a pittance.

They need certainty as it is very difficult without it, for them and the service users they support. They are hoping for an assurance that this small amount of money will be made available to secure the future of the service.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Unfortunately, I cannot absolutely promise it right now, although I would like to be able to do so. Tusla and I acknowledge the excellent work of Cottage Home and the contribution it has made in providing residential and other services. Cottage Home came to Tusla with this request at a time in the year when resources had already been disbursed to other services Tusla provides in these and other areas. Tusla may have wanted to respond positively, but the resources had already been spent. It is developing a commissioning strategy and approach in every area to identify needs. It is changing its approach to provide funding on that basis, of which Cottage Home is aware. It will be able to apply for funding in 2019 in that context.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am not quite sure what to make of the Minister's answer. If this service goes, it will be a major blow to an area where there is very substantial disadvantage and in which there are many vulnerable families and young people. Reviews and new ways of commissioning are fine, but this service needs to be maintained. If it is not, vulnerable families and young people will lose a vital service. The State would be cutting off its nose to spite its face. It will cost Tusla and the State more if the service is not maintained. I do not see why there is any ambiguity about this. It may be an issue that the funds have been allocated for this year, but we are very familiar with overruns in the health service and moneys being found in those circumstances. We are talking about a small amount of money in the greater scheme of things. I would like a bit more reassurance, as would the people who work in the service and the families and children who depend on it.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I have tried to be very clear in my answers. I acknowledge the contribution Cottage Home has made. The organisation, or another or a combination of five or so organisations-----

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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By the way, they are in the Visitors Gallery.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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-----may decide midway through the year that their funding resources are drying up and that they want the State to give them additional money, but there is a process for resourcing the services provided for children throughout the country, including in the Deputy's area. If they need moneys now which they did not need before, they have to go through the process Tusla offers. I have agreed to meet the organisation and Tusla to look into the issue in more detail, but I believe the approach I have outlined is very reasonable. We are trying to run our budget in that context.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I appeal to all Members to stick to the time limits. A Member has 30 seconds to introduce his or her question. There are two minutes for the Minister to reply. There is one minute for a supplementary question and one minute for the Minister to reply. That is also the case for the final supplementary question and the Minister's final reply. I ask Members to stick to these time limits because it will allow more questions to be asked and answered.