Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased to have the opportunity to raise this important matter. I thank the Minister for taking it herself. Knowing the type of pragmatic Minister she is, I believe she will have no entrenched views until she familiarises herself fully with the workings of ParentStop, which I believe is only available in Donegal. It provides free and confidential one-to-one telephone and group support to parents who need some help with parenting challenges, whether it is bedtime routine, managing behaviour, parenting skills, putting in place a parenting plan, setting boundaries, school concerns, communication breakdowns, worries about teens' substance misuse, or anything else of immediate concern to a person. It is there to offer support. It also helps with the challenges of separation and the strains that that causes for families. ParentStop can listen while people talk it out, provide information on their specific parenting concerns, and advise on the next steps. It was established in 2005 as a charitable organisation and registered as such in 2007. It offers a valuable service to parents and co-parents on matters of separation, legal matters and about children in a state of anxiety due to legal matters in their lives.

It is vital that this service is provided. ParentStop offers niche services that I can safely state can be obtained nowhere else in the country but in Donegal. Donegal should not be penalised for establishing it and ensuring that it has been extremely successful over the last 14 years. I raise it tonight because it has been told that the funding will be withdrawn. Not all of the funding comes from Tusla.

Some of it comes from the Departments of Justice and Equality and Health, while some of it comes through the bodies that deal with drugs. I have also mentioned this to the Minister of State at the Department of Health, Deputy Catherine Byrne. We must look at all of it in the round in the context of the services Tusla provides at times when families and individuals are dealing with legal matters, teenagers are struggling and there are challenges in second level schooling. They are times of great stress, anxiety and difficulty for the individuals concerned.

The Minister should deal with ParentStop in an atmosphere that is conducive to resolving this issue, not in the atmosphere of a court. I know that the legal profession in County Donegal is extremely supportive and it does not see this as taking business from it. If we had more organisations such as ParentStop throughout the country, it would result in massive savings. Therefore, I cannot understand why the funding was withdrawn. I quote directly a practising solicitor: "The courts are unable to deal with the volume of cases in the family law court and at the moment if someone has issued family law proceedings in the Letterkenny district area, (seeking access or maintenance for example), they will have to wait until at least February 2020 to be given a hearing." ParentStop was able to bridge that gap. In the vast majority of cases a final order was made by a court without any necessity for a hearing date following the party's attendance. All legal people concur with this. I hope the Minister has some good news for me.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank the Deputy for providing me with the opportunity to discuss the funding provided by Tusla for ParentStop in County Donegal and the recent decision by ParentStop to cease its services at the end of the year, as I understand it. ParentStop is one of many organisations funded by Tusla which provides valuable supports for parents and children. Since the publication of its parenting support strategy in 2013, Tusla has developed and expanded the range of parenting supports available to families across the country.

ParentStop has performed a non-stigmatising, expert and unique function in supporting families in County Donegal in a complex range of situations and across the continuum of care, as the Deputy eloquently outlined. In 2018 ParentStop supported 602 families. Supports include one-to-one sessions for families with complex needs, intensive supports for children and brief intervention supports for children and families. ParentStop also provides supports for families dealing with a range of issues, including separation, addictions, financial worries, online safety, obesity, mental health concerns, bullying, stress and peer pressure.

As one of ParentStop's core funders, Tusla has been aware of the organisation's recent financial difficulties and supported measures to prevent its closure. The HSE is ParentStop's other main funder. Between 2016 and 2019, annual funding provided by Tusla for ParentStop increased by €31,000 to €68,625. In 2018 Tusla provided an additional €7,000 for ParentStop to address its recurring annual deficit. Tusla provided a further exceptional annual increase of €24,000 for ParentStop in 2018 following the withdrawal of funding by the north-west regional drugs and alcohol task force. In 2019 Tusla provided further once-off funding of €18,640 to assist the organisation to invest time and resources in developing a sustainable funding model. Tusla has informed me that all funding options available to support ParentStop have been exhausted and that, unfortunately, ParentStop has decided that it cannot continue to operate within the funding allocations available from its core funders.

It is important that Tusla assign its resources to the areas which it perceives to be in greatest need, ensuring the best possible outcomes for children and families. Funding of services is informed by Tusla's commissioning approach. Tusla seeks to fund services in the most beneficial, effective, efficient, proportionate and sustainable manner in order to improve the outcomes for vulnerable children and families. Under Part 8 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, Tusla funds a range of organisations which provide services for vulnerable children and families, including those providing parenting supports. Tusla remains committed to commissioning and developing supports for parents and deeply regrets the decision of ParentStop to cease operations at the end of 2019.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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I am extremely disappointed to say the least. The Minister and her officials have taken an entrenched position and are not even prepared to think about this issue. We must look from 2005 at the return the State the gained from its investment, whether in Tusla, the health promotion grant available from the Department of Health or the north-west regional drugs and alcohol task force. I suggest to the Minister that she consider meeting a representative group from ParentStop. She is the lead Minister who could communicate with the other Departments involved and pull everything together. She says Tusla is committed to commissioning and developing supports for parents and deeply regrets this decision. It is not being taken by ParentStop; rather, it is being made for it because the various State agencies have withdrawn funding. Tusla states it must ensure its resources are assigned where they will have the most benefit and that the funding of services is informed by its commissioning approach. It also states it seeks to fund services in the most beneficial, effective, efficient, proportionate and sustainable manner. That statement is an insult to ParentStop which is stating the converse, namely, that it is not able to ensure it can operate in an efficient, proportionate and sustainable manner. It is totally insulting. As the Minister is fair, I ask her to make a start and meet as soon as possible, after the break next week, if there is to be one, with about three people from the organisation. Perhaps she might invite somebody from the Department of Health, Tusla and the other agencies to attend to try to pull all of this together. I ask her to take the initiative. She cannot do any more than that tonight. A sum of €100,000 to €120,000 is needed, not all of which would come from Tusla. Other agencies could make contributions. It could be a pilot project that could be rolled out throughout the rest of the country. It has proved so successful and it is disheartening if we are not able to proceed with it.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I do not accept the Deputy's judgment that we have taken an entrenched position. As I indicated, Tusla increased its contributions to ParentStop three times, in addition to the original core funding, to enable it to carry out the excellent work it was doing, as well as to support it in designing a sustainable funding model. I understand a little about the setting up of a voluntary organisation, providing excellent services and looking for ways to grow them, receiving support from different agencies and Departments and perhaps philanthropic sponsors and putting it all together in a sustainable funding model to continue to support the group, organisation, company limited by guarantee or charity, as the Deputy indicated. Tusla has tried to offer financial support in time to ParentStop to assist it in looking for a sustainable funding model. The Deputy asked who was responsible for that model. He also asked whether it was the Government or the organisation which was responsible. They are good questions. I am not saying I would not necessarily meet it, but I know a little about establishing an organisation to meet a need. ParentStop has done a brilliant job in that regard. As I understand it, there are other organisations in County Donegal that also offer parenting supports. Tusla's job is to look at all of the voluntary groups, as well as its own services, and identify that they are meeting the needs of parents and families in County Donegal.

My understanding is that this is an excellent voluntary organisation with an excellent provision of services that has had a challenge in developing a sustainable funding model, with which Tusla has tried to support it.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Sorry-----

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I cannot allow any more-----

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister agree to meet-----

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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The Leas-Cheann Comhairle knows better than anybody that I cannot allow it. The rules are the rules with four minutes each.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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Will the Minister meet them? I presume the Minister will meet them.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I will, if Deputy Gallagher comes with me.

Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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I am sure both of you will go and meet them. It will be a great gathering.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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And Tusla.

Pat Gallagher (Donegal, Fianna Fail)
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It is a deal.