Denise Mitchell (Dublin Bay North, Sinn Fein)
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157. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on whether Tusla has adequate resources to deal with the expected increase in workload due to the new regulations requiring the mandatory reporting of child protection concerns. [3580/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am pleased to inform the Deputy that I have secured an additional €40 million for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, in 2018. This is the third year in succession that Tusla has received a significant increase in its funding, which now amounts to over €753m.

I strongly support the work of Tusla, and I am committed to supporting the Agency in meeting the growing needs of children and families.

The additional resources secured for Tusla in 2018 will assist in meeting key priorities. The additional investment will allow Tusla to recruit a range of additional staff to respond to areas of identified risk, and to meet increased demand for services, including an anticipated increase in referrals following the introduction of mandatory reporting. This increase in funding is also enabling the further management of unallocated cases. Tusla is also in the process of recruiting more administrative staff to support social workers in their child protection duties.

In 2018, funding is also being used to establish a single national out-of-hours social work service, building on significant progress made in recent years in strengthening this service, enhanced collaboration with An Garda Siochána, additional on-call social work capacity and a new out-of-hours support service for foster carers.

I have requested that Tusla develop a robust workforce plan which addresses succession planning, retention, career pathways, training and development, future workforce needs, priority gaps and a strategy for tackling the priority gaps, dealing with a rise in referrals due to mandatory reporting and reducing unallocated cases.

In conclusion, I am confident that the Exchequer funding of over €753m in 2018 provides Tusla with significantly increased capacity to respond to areas of identified risk and anticipated demand, including the introduction of mandated reporting, and to progress a number of key service developments which will ensure better outcomes for vulnerable children, and families, who need our services and support.