Mick Wallace (Wexford, Independent)
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49. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she is satisfied with the overall performance of Tusla; her plans to conduct a review into the operations of Tusla with regard to its child protection policy, in view of the report by the UN Special Rapporteur (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43742/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I can inform the Deputy that I am satisfied with the overall performance of Tusla. I have no current plan to conduct a review into the operations of Tusla with regard to its child protection policy.

I recently announced that all remaining provisions of the Children First Act 2015 will be commenced on 11 December 2017. These include the provisions in relation to mandatory reporting of child abuse and in relation to placing a legal obligation on organisations providing services to children to prepare and publish a Child Safeguarding Statement. Tusla is central to the implementation of these important measures.

I recently launched the Children First: National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children [2017].At the same launch, Tusla published an accompanying suite of Children First resource documents for those individuals and organisations who will acquire legal obligations under the Children First Act 2015. Tusla also launched a comprehensive 90 minute basic Children First training programme, to be universally available on line, free of charge.

In relation to the report published in May 2017 by the Special Rapporteur on Child Protection dealing with children under Section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991, Tusla is working closely with An Garda Siochána to ensure close and effective working relationships between the two agencies.

In Budget 2018, Tusla receives a 5.7% increase of €40.6m for 2018, higher than the €37m increase provided in 2017. The extra funding will be used to progress a number of key priorities including the introduction of mandatory reporting under Children First, addressing gaps in out-of-hours services and further investing in Family Resource Centres. It will allow Tusla to recruit over 300 staff to respond to areas of identified risk and to meet increased demand for services. This includes resources for responding to expected increases in referrals following the introduction of mandatory reporting and management of unallocated cases. It will also allow for improvements in Tusla’s ICT systems and overall organisational structures, including governance.

We must continually do our utmost to protect children and young people from harm and assist them in achieving their full potential and I want to encourage and support people who work with children to continue to do so.