Róisín Garvey (Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I do not envy the Minister his job. He seems to be grasping a lot of nettles these days. It is important that the he be brought before the House. I thank Senator Ruane for discussing this because children are probably the most vulnerable in society and it is good to get an update from the Minister.

I thank him for some work he did on extra funding for support for the victims of domestic violence and their children. Of course, it is never enough and there are issues with accommodation, but the extra funding has definitely helped. I know from people who work in the voluntary sector providing protection for women who, along with their children, unfortunately, have to deal with domestic violence, that it has been a big help. It is also great that we have secured funding to help unaccompanied minors access full wraparound services, something that did not exist in the past. I welcome those initiatives.

The waiting time for young people in foster services is something the Minister and Green Party worked hard on to get it into the programme for Government. It is great that we got it in there and to see it being implemented. Rather than having children in care leapfrogging a general list, providing services on-site within Tusla will mean that children in urgent need can be catered for immediately. A cross section of services can be provided to the same child and a more economical service can be provided by the State. This all makes very good sense. Could the Minister update the House on progress in this area? I know it is being done in Dublin North Central and has proved to be very successful. Given that it is proving to be successful, are there move towards rolling it out nationwide? This is what we need everywhere in Ireland. What is the next phase of that great plan?

In terms of homelessness, there are issues around Tusla tracking young people. Children who grew up in State care are vulnerable to becoming homeless as adults. No one seems to know how common that is because Tusla does not track the figures. Does the Minister hope to do some work on that? Can Tusla track the levels of homelessness in young people who leave care? We need facts if we want to try to solve problems. It is not good that people who have grown up in care are not tracked in order to determine how they are coping once they have left.

The Brothers of Charity often deal with houses for people with special needs, including some minors. It was brought to my attention by the head of the Brothers of Charity that the organisation is not eligible for any retrofitting or warmer housing scheme grants. For some reason, the HSE has not included such houses in any scheme. We need to examine that issue because people who are cared for by the Brothers of Charity also need to be in warm homes. The Minister might raise that issue with the HSE. Those houses need to be retrofitted. I have been to visit a few of them. I thank him for his great work to date.