Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)
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705. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide details of the psychotherapeutic services that are available in Dublin Central for vulnerable children who are in the care of the State; the psychotherapeutic services available in the whole of Ireland for vulnerable children in the care of the State; his plans for further provision of psychotherapeutic services for vulnerable children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31405/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in discharging its functions, is placing a strong emphasis on prevention, early intervention, family support, therapeutic and care interventions, all of which are key to the provision of integrated, multi-disciplinary services for vulnerable children and families.

Tusla has specific responsibility for psychology services for children as set out in Section 8 of the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013. These services for children are currently being provided by arrangement with the HSE.

Tusla plans to engage with the HSE to develop a Service Level Agreement (SLA) to underpin the provision of psychological services by the HSE which will assist the Agency in fulfilling its statutory obligations. The SLA will determine the quantum of service needed to meet the Agency's requirements.

Children in the care of the State also require access on occasion to publicly funded child and adolescent mental health teams and primary care psychology services provided for every child in the State by the Health Service Executive. Additionally, access can be required to HSE services commissioned by social work departments involving the provision of psychotherapeutic supports.

Furthermore, clinical psychology services are directly provided by the Child and Family Agency within multi-disciplinary teams deployed by the Assessment, Consultation and Therapy Service (ACTS). Services provided include assessment and focused interventions for children and young people with complex clinical needs and high risk behaviours. The service also provides support to other professionals in order to guide interventions to children and families.

The aim of ACTS is to facilitate the provision of more therapeutic environments in the national Special Care Units and Children Detention Schools and to work in partnership with others to improve outcomes for the most vulnerable young people in Ireland.

Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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706. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 136 of 8 July 2015, while the development of a protocol by Tusla in relation to the Vienna Convention is welcomed, given the lack of information available on the nationality of the young persons in the care of the State makes it impossible to measure the success of these initiatives, if he will advise Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that this information should be collected and reported on; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31459/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I have been advised by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that work has commenced in ensuring there are robust systems supporting Tusla's practices in relation to the Vienna Convention. Part of this work included reviewing current policies and establishing national structures to support this work. The protocol has been agreed and is in operation.

Tusla has also advised me that a national register will be established which will capture the nationality of young people coming to the attention of Tusla in relation to the Vienna Convention and will be recorded on standardised forms.

As this work is on-going and systems are in development, it is anticipated that Tusla will begin collating this data early in 2016.