Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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1645. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her plans to increase the funding made available to family resource centres through her Department's family resource centre programme; her further plans to address the issue of pay disparity within the sector in view of the fact that it is hampering the ability of centres to recruit suitably qualified staff and fill existing vacancies; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37218/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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There are over 100 Family Resource Centres currently in receipt of funding from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Tusla provides funding to the centres under an annual Service Level Agreement. This funding is provided by way of a contribution towards the running costs of the centres. The 2017 Tusla allocation to Family Resource Centres is €13.512 million.

Family Resource Centres are independent companies limited by guarantee and they are managed by a Voluntary Board of Management which is representative of the local community. The centres operate independently of Tusla and each individual centre is responsible for the recruitment of employees and the terms and conditions under which they are employed.

Tusla fully appreciates the role that Family Resource Centres play in offering early intervention support to families in difficulty.

It is not possible at this stage to advise on what level of funding will be made available by Tusla to Family Resource Centres in 2018. This issue will be clarified in the context of the annual Estimates process and having regard to the overall level of funding available to Tusla in 2018.