John McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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673. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs further to Parliamentary Question No. 516 of 15 May 2018, the progress in providing the same level of insurance through Tusla to foster carers as they had with the HSE; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6394/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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As the Deputy is aware, foster carers are no longer covered by a commercial public liability insurance policy. Attempts by Tusla to secure continuing commercial cover have proved unsuccessful.

As I have mentioned in previous replies, pending a permanent solution, all foster carers have an indemnity on an individual basis where required. This is on an ex-gratia basis as a temporary measure to address immediate individual cases while the overall indemnification issues are being resolved.

Again, the Deputy will be aware that, I fully support extending State indemnity to foster carers. My Department has been in discussion with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the matter, and my intention is to include foster carers under the General Indemnity Scheme operated by the State Claims Agency as soon as possible. In this regard, work is ongoing with the Office of Parliamentary Counsel to draft the necessary Order for Government.

This process has taken longer than expected due to a number of technical issues arising in the course of the approvals process. These issues need to be resolved to ensure that foster carers will have the necessary cover to carry out their very important role. I am currently awaiting confirmation from the Office of Parliamentary Council that the last of these issues is now settled. When this is confirmed and the draft Order is finalised, it will be possible to proceed to its submission for Government approval in the usual manner.

I have spoken to the Irish Foster Carers Association (IFCA) on this matter, most recently at a meeting on 17 January, and recognise that this is of considerable interest to the association and to all foster carers. My officials have kept IFCA up to date on a continuous basis. In addition, I understand that Tusla has also made publicly available the information provided to IFCA so as to communicate the position to those foster carers who are not members of that association.

I am hopeful that this matter will be resolved shortly.