Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 300: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if her attention has been drawn to the fact that one of the predominant reasons children are admitted to care is family difficulties in terms of accessing housing and finance; and if she has approached the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government with regard to providing higher levels of social housing to persons on low incomes which would enable children to stay within the family. [23092/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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My colleague, the Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has the lead policy responsibility in relation to social housing. The most recent complete information available to the Health Service Executive indicates that in 2007, 2,991 families were reported to have child welfare concerns. Of these, 193 - or 6% - were deemed to be experiencing difficulty with housing/finance issues. The statistics further state that 1,342 children were placed in care under the broad heading "Parent Unable to Cope/Family Difficulty re: housing/finance". This represents 25% of the total number of children in care (5,307). The Health Service Executive has been asked to forward a copy of these statistics to the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government for its consideration.