Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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464. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the way the €35 million additional moneys allocated to Tusla was allocated; the criteria that were applied in decisions made; the number of posts that were allocated to child protection teams; if she will provide a detailed breakdown of these posts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23152/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Significant extra resources have been allocated to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency for 2016. The gross funding allocation for Tusla in 2016 is €676 million. This represents an increase of €38 million over the 2015 allocation and includes extra provision of €36.9 in revenue funding and €1.1m in capital funding.

In accordance with the Agency's establishing legislation, a detailed Performance Statement was issued to Tusla to inform the preparation of its Business Plan for 2016. The Performance Statement includes policy guidance, direction, prioritisation and resource parameters for 2016.

Tusla has committed in its Business Plan to a series of actions in 2016. This includes in particular a targeted reduction of 60% in the number of cases awaiting allocation to a social worker.

The level of financial provision available in 2016 allows Tusla to significantly increase its manpower levels. Tusla is currently engaged in an extensive recruitment programme, which includes the recruitment of 168 extra social workers and 33 support staff to address the issue of unallocated cases. It will be important to recruit other grades also, to ensure an efficient service with the right mix of staffing including family support staff and administrative support.

There are currently 1,511 whole time equivalent social workers employed by Tusla representing a net increase of 110 whole time equivalent social workers since end December, 2015.