Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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623. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of children known to his Department who are living in emergency accommodation, such as domestic violence refuges, and homeless shelter accommodation, by county, for each of the years 2011 to 2014 and for 2015 to date, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37541/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Policy responsibility for children who present as out of home without their parent(s) or guardian(s) relates to children under 18 and any related child welfare and protection concern that may arise in the context of the Child Care Act 1991. An assessment of need is undertaken with 16 and 17 year olds who, may be received into care or provided with a service under Section 5 of the Child Care Act 1991.

The Crisis Intervention Service (CIS) provides an out-of-hours emergency social work service to young people aged under 18 years who are in crisis. The service operates across the greater Dublin area (Counties Dublin, Wicklow & Kildare). Referrals are made by service providers outside of normal working hours ie: Gardai, hospital and ambulance service personnel. Outside of Dublin, the Emergency Place of Safety Service (EPSS) operates, whereby placements within a family setting can be accessed by Gardai for children found to be at risk out of hours. The placements are usually until the next working day when the local social work service assumes responsibility for the case. The following table shows the end of year referrals and placements for both the CIS and the EPSS:

The reasons for a referral not requiring placement varies, and include children not requiring a care placement, family arrangements put in place or referrals relate to queries from Gardai and hospital but do not require an emergency placement.

The Review of Adequacy is the annual report compiled and published by the HSE (now Tusla) which reviews the adequacy of the child and family services provided as required under Section 8 of the Child Care Act 1991. The following table shows the number of children accommodated for more than four consecutive nights (or 10 separate nights over a year), and the number of children in care accommodated under Section 5 of the 1991 Act on the 31st December of the last three years. In such circumstances, these children are provided with the same supports and safeguards as children in care. In some instances, they may not wish to be taken into care and will take up services only on the basis of receiving support under Section 5 of the Act. As these figures are released on an annual basis, figures for 2014 and 2015 are not yet available.

The accommodation needs of children who are in the care of their parents where the family is homeless are the responsibility of the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government and local authorities. Regarding the number of children living in domestic violence refuges, Tusla does not collate this information and it is therefore not available for the Deputy.