Tommy Broughan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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1153. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the way in which the €40.5 million additional funding for Tusla in 2018 will be spent; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25247/18]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In 2018, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency received a budget allocation of some €753 million from my Department's voted expenditure, which includes an extra €40.6 million over its 2017 allocation.

Late last year, I issued Tusla with its 2018 Performance Statement in line with the provisions of the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013. In the 2018 Performance Statement, I indicated my priorities to Tusla for this year including:

- actions to support mandatory reporting under the Children First Act, 2015,

- addressing gaps in out of hours services, and

- further investment in Family Resource Centres in local communities that deliver services to families, especially in disadvantaged areas across the country.

I am pleased that the extra funding secured will also allow Tusla to recruit over 300 additional staff, reduce the number of unallocated cases, improve its ICT infrastructure, and advance further developments in areas such as Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence services, adoption, aftercare, and homelessness supports.

Tusla prepared its Business Plan for 2018, on foot of the 2018 Performance Statement, setting out its proposed main areas of spending. The 2018 Tusla Business Plan is available on the Tusla website www.tusla.ie.

I strongly support the work of Tusla and I am committed to providing resources to meet the growing needs of children and families. The increased funding, which I have secured for Tusla in 2018, means that resources are available to meet key priorities in the years ahead.