Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Anti-Austerity Alliance)
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26. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the child protection and welfare issues where the lack of availability of alternative housing is adding to the difficulties faced by children in households where there is domestic violence; the action she has taken on this matter; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14845/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence whether in the context of the family or otherwise. A network of 60 organisations provide services to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence in Ireland, including 20 services providing emergency refuge accommodation to women and children and 24 community-based domestic violence services.

Ireland has recently signed the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention). As the agency with statutory responsibility for care and protection of victims of domestic, sexual and gender based violence, Tusla will work collaboratively with service provider organisations, statutory agencies and other stakeholders to ensure the successful implementation of the objectives of the Convention.

The Agency has in place a dedicated national budget of €20.6m in 2016 for domestic, sexual and gender-based services. This includes additional funding of €200,000 in 2016, to begin the process of implementation of the Istanbul Convention.

Current provision of refuge spaces nationally includes 145 family units, which include 428 spaces for children. Using the methodology for calculating refuge spaces set out by the Council of Europe, the number of available family places nationally is approximately one space per 9,000 adult women, which is within recommended minimum standards for countries where integrated community based responses to domestic violence are in place.

Tusla recognises that there are challenges to be addressed in ensuring that there is an appropriate configuration of spaces available to all women and children who require emergency accommodation and that those with greatest needs for safe accommodation are prioritised appropriately.

The current housing shortage and homeless situation puts particular pressure on emergency refuge services which face challenges in supporting service users in finding appropriate move-on accommodation when safety issues have been addressed.

A range of integrated supports are required in order to reduce the need for women and children to use emergency accommodation and to ensure that families disrupted by domestic violence can be supported to resume normal and safe family living beyond refuge-type accommodation, within the shortest possible timeframe.

At all times the Agency’s key priority is to ensure that the needs of women and children fleeing domestic violence are being met in the best way possible and to address issues of equity in access to and outcomes from services.

Tusla expects eight additional units of emergency accommodation to become available in the greater Dublin area in 2016.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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27. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her proposals to identify and provide the necessary back up for children at risk, whether from physical or mental abuse, neglect or other failure; if she is satisfied that the existing structures will meet the challenges of the future; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14820/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Child and Family Agency, Tusla, holds the statutory responsibility for child welfare and protection, and is the appropriate body to receive reports of concerns relating to children at risk.

Each referral received by the Agency is assessed and dealt with on an individual basis by the relevant social work team. Preliminary screening is aimed at establishing the appropriateness of the referral to Tusla services and, if necessary, is followed by an initial assessment of the concern to determine the best course of action for the child and their family. Over half of all referrals received by Tusla are welfare concerns and Tusla's policy is to refer these to relevant family and community support services.

At any stage, if a determination is made that there is abuse or the risk of abuse, whether physical, emotional, sexual or neglect, the child protection pathway is followed. A social worker works with the parent/s to support them to provide safe care for their child. In a minority of cases this may lead to the child being placed on the Child Protection Notification System (CPNS) or the child being received into care. I wish to assure the Deputy that Tusla deals immediately with emergency cases, including for instance, if a child has been abandoned or is in immediate physical danger or at immediate risk of sexual abuse. Social work duty teams keep high priority cases under review by regularly checking to ascertain risk to the child, and where necessary will reprioritise the case.

Provisional figures for 2015 show that there were 25,361 child welfare concerns and 18,235 child protection concerns received by Tusla. Referrals come from a number of sources so there are some duplicates in these figures, and some will be more appropriate for universal services, such as those provided in the community or health sectors.