Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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31. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the extent to which he is satisfied that adequate resources remain available to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, to provide the full range of services and facilities for which it has responsibility; if he expects any further resources to be required in this regard; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20487/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As part of the estimates process for Budget 2015 I am pleased to say that I secured gross funding of €1,027 million for my Department to deliver important reform and service developments to support children and young people next year. This includes a provision of €992 million in current expenditure and €35 million in capital expenditure, which in Vote terms, represents an overall increase of €30 million, or 3%, over the 2014 allocation.

The Estimate for 2015 contains significant additional resources to fund the services and programmes provided by the Child and Family Agency. This amounts to €643 million, which accounts for 63% of the Vote allocation, and represents an increase of €34 million or 5% against the 2014 allocation. While I understand that this level of funding cannot address all of the challenges that the new Agency faces in doing its work, I believe that the additional funding will allow the Agency not only to alleviate the pressures on the range of services currently in place, but also to build on the extensive programme of reform across the range of services for children and services which is well underway. The balance of funding in the Vote, which amounts to €384 million, relates to a range of other programmes administered by my Department including those relating to child-care and youth services.

Officials in my Department continue to closely monitor the cash position of the Agency and are working with the Agency on an ongoing basis to monitor the Agency's financial requirement. Any variations to agreed expenditure profiles are discussed with Department of Public Expenditure and Reform as part of the ongoing budgetary discussions.