Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senators for their contributions to this debate. I am pleased to hear the broad cross-party and cross-group welcome for the Bill in principle. I listened carefully to what the speakers said and I will consider some of the issues they raised. I will respond to a few of the Senators now.

The day-to-day responsibility for these services has been moved to the Department of Education by a statutory instrument, as the Chair said earlier. The essence of this Bill is to give a clear legal base or, as Senator Keogan said, a direct line from the Department of Education into Tusla on these specific functions so that the Minister for Education can appoint one of the board members. There will, therefore, be reporting lines so that the Department of Education will have a clear ability to influence policymaking in this area.

Senators Seery Kearney and Conway spoke about what we have tried to do in the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth in terms of the importance of integration and looking at issues in an holistic way. I will be honest. When I learned these functions were leaving my Department I was actually disappointed because I am interested in this issue. I was chair of a board of management for a number of years. We had a fantastic home school community liaison teacher. The system worked very well. The nitty-gritty of how it works and can bring in children and, probably just as important, engage with parents for whom English is not their first language or who were disenfranchised from the education system themselves. All of that is important. While I was somewhat disappointed to see that leave my Department in terms of the policymaking role, it is important that my role in the oversight of Tusla and its general operations will now, I believe, be enhanced by the role of the Minister for Education. As a number of Senators have said, the natural place for the responsibility of these services to rest is with the Department of Education. However, there will be close and ongoing co-operation with my Department in that context. This Bill allows for an integrated approach between the two Departments and Tusla.

On the issue of Tusla and its wider role, which Senator McGreehan raised, I have just come from my quarterly meeting with the chief executive and a number of board members, including the chair. We had a detailed discussion on a range of issues. Tusla is an agency that is very much in transformation. It has had difficulties; that has been accepted. I have great confidence in its leadership team: Bernard Gloster, the chair and the board. I see huge ambition to implement the transformation document that was drafted a number of years ago. I am doing whatever I can to support them in doing that. In terms of other issues which it is hoped we will deal with in this term, we discussed information and tracing. I am very conscious of, and we discussed the importance of, the need for a range of skill sets beyond the very important social work skill set to deal with the additional workload the agency will have in information and tracing, and that is not the only necessary skill set in genealogy and identification, particularly for the tracing element. That discussion is ongoing and an area I have confidence in. I reaffirm my strong confidence in the transformation being seen in Tusla as an agency.

All of what we are talking about is in the context of Covid. Senators quite rightly raised the issue of the supports the Government is putting in place. Senators Warfield, McGreehan and Moynihan referred to them. The additional teaching hours are very important. I have visited several primary schools in my constituency in recent weeks. Principals are excited about the allocation and the degree of autonomy we are giving schools to identify the subjects and the students who need those additional supports. They are not the only available supports. The Department of Education has provided additional supports. Last September, significant additional supports in the area of well-being were provided when students were coming back after the long gap away from schools.

A number of Senators asked what I have been doing in my Department about this. I am doing my best to support youth services, initially in terms of new guidance, so that indoor services in particular can get back up and running as we go into October and November, when weather will not permit outdoor youth services. On financial support, we also gave an additional €5 million last year. I know additional supports are being sought this year. I will do my best in the context of the budget to deliver that.

As regards research we are doing on the impact of Covid on young people, a good piece of research was conducted in conjunction with mental health charities last year. This was the SpunOut How's Your Head piece of research. In addition, the Growing Up in Ireland longitudinal survey was conducted. It was a significant survey with thousands of young people surveyed at various times of life. That has been very beneficial to us by giving us information about the impacts on them. As a result of those groups being surveyed successively, we can compare like with like and see the immediate impacts. We are using that research to engage with Government colleagues in terms of the wider Government responses.

Senator Moynihan raised the issue of youth unemployment. My Department, the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science will engage later this week with a range of groups about the issue of youth employment.

Senator Conway mentioned unemployment affecting persons with disabilities. That partially falls within the remit of my Department. We will introduce the assisted decision-making (capacity) (amendment) Bill later this year which will be important in getting the decision support service up and running. That Bill will also increase the obligation on public services to employ persons with a disability. The current level is at 3%. We will double that to bring it up to 6%. That will be tough because the public service in total is at a level of just over 3% at present. We are, therefore, setting an ambitious target which all State agencies and bodies will have to work hard on to deliver. That is one part of the answer to the important issue of employment of persons with disabilities.

On the subject matter of the Bill before us, as Senators will know, the National Educational Welfare Board merged with Tusla on its establishment in 2014. The educational welfare responsibility is now fully integrated into the whole of Tusla approach to service delivery for the protection and welfare of children. Having educational welfare services within the Tusla service structure gives the Tusla education support service, TESS, immediate access to expertise and a wide range of supports to meet the presenting needs of children and families referred to both TESS and the alternative education and registration service, AEARS. I believe that is the integrated approach a number of Senators referred to.

It is important the critical links and synergies developed between TESS, AEARS and the other key areas within Tusla continue to be enhanced and developed to strengthen the supports to vulnerable children in the educational context. In addition, it is important that critical links and synergies are developed between TESS and AEARS and other key services under the remit of the Department of Education to enhance and develop the supports to vulnerable children in the educational context. This Bill provides the Minister for Education with the appropriate statutory oversight for educational welfare functions carried out by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. My Department will work with the Department of Education and Tusla to support this objective with the core principle of the best interest of the child. I look forward to engaging further with Senators during the passage of this Bill through the House.