Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for being in the Chamber today during what is a very busy week for the Government. I was pleased to note in yesterday's budget an increase in the funding to be made available to the Child and Family Agency. I look forward to hearing more from the Minister's Department as to where these additional resources will be specifically allocated.

Last week I spoke in the Seanad on the challenges faced by Irish care leavers in the transition into further education. It is very important that we speak about children in care and the issues faced by our care-experienced young people on a regular basis. We often hear that this vulnerable group does not feel seen or heard.

The issue I will speak about today is one that, if acted on, will ensure that care-experienced young people are seen, heard and adequately supported. In the 2009 Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse, widely known as the Ryan report, a wide range of recommendations were made to ensure that the tragedies inflicted on young people in the care of the State were never repeated. Most of these recommendations have, thankfully, been acted on in the intervening 11 years, but a number remain on hold for one reason or another. One such recommendation relates to the commencement of a longitudinal study of children in care and aftercare, to measure and evaluate their outcomes versus the majority of young people that are cared for in home. This was a very important recommendation from the Ryan report and it is a great shame that it has not yet been advanced given the insights we stand to take from the study and the impact this learning could have on the future service provision for children and families.

As the Minister will be aware, care-experienced young people and young adults face challenges in their lives that many of us struggle to even comprehend. These challenges affect the young person throughout the course of his or her life, and do not simply disappear when the young person first comes into care and later transitions to after-care or returns to the family of origin. These challenges affect many young people's ability to develop in line with expectation, and to learn to sustain healthy relationships in childhood and adulthood. We know this because of anecdotal accounts provided by care-experienced young people, social workers, and social care professionals, and by advocacy groups like Empowering People in Care, EPIC, and the Irish Foster Care Association. We should not have to rely on evidence like this from people. Instead, we should undertake a comprehensive longitudinal study of children in care and aftercare, and explore how the data gathered over the course of the study can improve the future provision of services to children and families in the State.Previous Governments committed to this study being undertaken, but, unfortunately, it remains on the back-burner. To date, we have had recommendations from the Ryan report and agreed to their implementation and undertaken scoping exercises and feasibility studies, but the proposed study has still not commenced. There are barriers to undertaking a study of this nature but, as demonstrated by the feasibility study undertaken in 2018, they are not insurmountable. As I know the Minister of State will agree, our care-experienced young people are deserving of that effort.

Similar studies have been undertaken in other jurisdictions. We even have a precedent for longitudinal study of young people in this country in the form of Growing up in Ireland. Given the specificities the experiences of young people in care, however, we require a study which focuses on the specific experiences of many challenges faced by young people in care and aftercare and on the unique needs of a vulnerable group in Irish society. Without it, care-experienced young people will continue to feel unseen and unheard in comparison with their majority peers. Young people who cannot be cared for at home deserve better. By committing to the commencement of the longitudinal study, which was first proposed in the Ryan report, we can demonstrate to young people with care experience that we see them, hear them and are working hard to ensure that they achieve the best outcomes and the brightest futures that they so deserve.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank Senator Ruane for raising this important matter. I am aware of the vulnerability of people leaving care. I met with representatives from the Irish Aftercare Network on Monday, and we had a good discussion. It is not the first time I met with them. I have met groups such as Empowering People in Care, EPIC, so I am engaged with people, both dealing with children in care, and those supporting children in aftercare. I listen carefully to what they have to say.

As the Senator is aware, the Ryan report implementation plan recommended that a longitudinal survey will be carried out to follow young people for ten years after they left care, with the agreement of the young people involved. At various times over subsequent years, consideration has been given by my Department to how to best implement this recommendation. Tusla and my Department commissioned a feasibility report, of which the Senator spoke, which was authored by Dr. Carmel Devaney and Dr. Clíona Rooney of the UNESCO child and family research centre at the National University of Ireland Galway and which was published in 2019. The report provided evidence and learning from longitudinal studies in other countries and, importantly, it also recommended extending any consideration of longitudinal research to include children in care, as well as those who are leaving care. The report highlighted the need for more information regarding the experiences of and outcomes for children in care and leaving care in Ireland, which could then be used to inform policy and service development.

There is an agreement between my Department and Tusla that greater knowledge of the lives of children in care, as well as those leaving care, is needed. It is accepted that the Ryan report recommendations should be extended to include both cohorts. However, the scale and cost of longitudinal research is substantial. As a result, careful consideration needs to be given to whether and in what format a longitudinal study on children in care and leaving care should be carried out. There have been significant developments the collection and analysis of administrative data on children in care since the publication of the Ryan report. These also need to be considered and incorporated in any decision that is made on how to proceed.

We established a working group between my Department of Tusla in November 2020. The purpose of the working group is to inform me of the ways in which the Ryan report recommendation for longitudinal research into the lives and experiences of children in care and those living care can best be met. This will include consideration of the feasibility of conducting longitudinal research with these children and young people. The working group has met six times to date. There are two more meetings planned for October and November. It is my expectation that the working group will produce a high-level report in which it will outline the findings and conclusions of its work. I will consider this when making a decision on how best to proceed.

The working group was originally meant to report in quarter 3 of this year. As has been the case with so many aspects of Tusla's operations, the cyberattack has delayed that. I am now expecting the report by the end of 2021. That will allow me, hopefully in early 2022, to make a decision on how we provide the best available research for children in care at the moment and those leaving who are leaving care.

Lynn Ruane (Independent)
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I thank the Minister for his encouraging response about the working group and the report he expects it to provide by the end of the year. I always see things in the flip-reverse. We sometimes put cost forward as a barrier because we look at the cost involved in the short term. It is always good to keep in our frame of thinking about what would the cost be of not taking a particular action. When one begins to measure the latter, then the cost of taking an action always seems so much smaller than the cost of not taking the action. I am glad that the working group commenced its work last year. I look forward to the Minster coming back to the Chamber after he has seen that report in order that he can give an update on what happens next.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Every Minister has to consider cost as one of the factors in any decision-making process. However, it is not the driving factor. It is worth noting that the amount of data available since the Ryan report was published - which as the Senator pointed out is a long time ago – is now much greater. We have data from the national childcare information system, the Central Statistics Office and many other sources in respect of a range of areas. While longitudinal surveys are fantastic in identifying long-term trends, there is data already available on day-to-day and yearly trends right now. It is important that whatever recommendation we get will give us the best up-to-date data that my Department, Tusla and other State agencies can use. That is why we are giving wide consideration to all sources of data in this working group. Again, I am looking forward to getting its recommendations. Of course, I will be happy to discuss them further with Members of this House once I get them.