Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Independent)
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440. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will reinstate funding to a service (details supplied) in Dublin 5; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30278/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has been tasked with improving outcomes and well being for children and young people. The Agency must ensure that it makes the most efficient use of its resources in a way that is efficient, equitable, proportionate and sustainable.

Tusla prioritises the well being and protection of children in budgetary decisions. In that context, Tusla’s budget is being directed towards services which are best aligned to those outcomes prioritised in the Agency’s Corporate Plan.

Tusla makes provision for pre-school care and education through discretionary grant aid agreements with pre-schools which offer early intervention and specialised support for children who are not in receipt of adequate care and protection.

Since 2009, there have been significant developments in the co-ordination and provision of early childhood support and childcare provision. Locally, this sits alongside a backdrop of significant population change and emergence of new areas of socio-economic deprivation and disadvantage within the North Dublin area.

Tusla, North Dublin has continued to provide significant funding to six nurseries in the North Dublin Region. Tusla values the work of the nursery in question and will continue to work in partnership with organisations that have responsibility for early years services. The position with regard to funding has not changed since my most recent correspondence with the Deputy on 29 June, 2015.