Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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929. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has any concerns about reports from practitioners of long waiting periods for section 20 reports requested by District Courts and carried out by Tusla; and further to the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 305 of 19 January 2016, if the information is available. [13203/16]

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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930. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason for the closure of the central section 20 office that previously covered the Dublin and mid-Leinster region. [13204/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 929 and 930 together.

Under section 20 of the Child Care Act 1991, a Court, may of its own volition or on the application of any person, adjourn proceedings and direct the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, to undertake an investigation of the child's circumstances where there is concern for the safety, care, health or welfare of a child involved in the proceedings. The subsequent report to the court will advise and give reasons if an application for a care or supervision order is being recommended, as well as an indication of what other services the child may need from Tusla.

Tusla has advised that the Central Section 20 Office referred to by the Deputy was established in the 1990’s under the former Eastern Health Board to provide reports for the court in relation to custody and access cases. Initially, there were 6 staff assigned to the team and over the years this number reduced due to the non filling of vacancies. In mid 2015, the decision was made to disband the Section 20 Office. At that time staffing consisted of 0.6 Social Work Team Leader and 0.8 Social Worker posts. Tusla does not now have dedicated Section 20 departments or teams.

I can confirm that all section 20 requests go to the local areas and are allocated according to the principles of caseload management. The additional funding of €38 million which the Government has allocated to Tusla for 2016, will give the Agency greater capacity to respond to identified demand and to alleviate pressures being faced in specific areas.

The following table contains the information available to 23rd March 2016, which I understand was issued shortly after this in reply to the earlier parliamentary question.