Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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631. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the extent to which he and his Department continue to monitor the needs of children who are refugees or in the Traveller community or who have special issues, and who, if they are not attended to, may not be in a position to take their rightful place in society in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [26387/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department is preparing a new policy framework for children and young people (0-24), covering the period 2023-2028 for publication in the coming months. This framework is adopting a rights-based approach, focused on realising the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

While the framework will work towards realising the rights of all children and young people, I am mindful that there are groups of children and young people with vulnerabilities which need to be specifically addressed. In drafting the framework, my Department has taken into account recent data and evidence on the needs of vulnerable groups of children, as well as the findings of consultations with children and young people from affected groups, and working across Government to ensure their vulnerabilities are addressed to the greatest possible extent.

The framework includes a number of high level systemic actions to ensure that children and young people are a central consideration in all decision making. These actions are largely based on the UNCRC General Measures of Implementation, including the further development of reliable data, disaggregated to enable identification of discrimination and/or disparities in the realisation of rights.

This will build on existing work which includes Growing Up in Ireland, the national longitudinal study of children, which aims to inform Government policy relating to children, young people and their families. A key objective of the study is the identification of sources of inequality across all aspects of child development; this includes inequalities relating to gender, family structure, socio-economic status, and other socio-demographic indicators (including membership of minority groups). Across 11 waves of data collection from around 20,000 young people and their families (with extensive plans for increased data collection and a new birth cohort in the coming years), the study has repeatedly highlighted inequalities in terms of education, physical and mental well-being, and economic engagement (amongst other outcomes of child development). The study has and will continue to act as a key source of robust, reliable and contemporary information on the nature and extent of inequalities experienced by children and young people in Ireland today.

In line with a commitment in First 5, and informed by recommendations in Partnership for the Public Good, officials in my Department are currently developing a tailored policy response in order to progress the development of a new strand of funding - Tackling Disadvantage: the Equal Participation Model.

Through this work, services will be provided with a proportionate mix of universal and targeted supports to support children and families accessing their services who are experiencing disadvantage.

I January 2022 I launched a research and data project examining the lives of children in care and adults who were in care as children project led by my Department in collaboration with Tusla as a key partner. The Project will provide a wealth of new information and data concerning all children in care, which will be used to inform policy and service development.

My Department is also working in collaboration with Tusla and the CSO on a project, which will link children in care data with school enrolment, attendance and attainment data for the first time in Ireland. Having a greater insight and empirical data on how this cohort of children and young people are getting on in their education will provide important insights to inform policy and service development.

In relation specifically to Traveller and Roma children, the National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS) provides a framework for action on Traveller and Roma issues and represents a whole-of-Government approach, bringing together Government agencies, Departments, members of the Traveller and Roma communities and the NGOs that work with them.

Moreover, the Traveller and Roma Care Project aims is to increase the number of Traveller and Roma foster carers available to provide a culturally appropriate foster care placement for children from the Traveller and Roma communities. The aim is to recruit a pool of general foster carers for Traveller and Roma children and to encourage social worker to look at relative care when a child from either community is taken into care.

My Department has also provided funding annually to the Tusla Traveller Parent Supports Pilot Programme since 2020. €199,050 was allocated to this programme in 2023. This funding has been provided through the What Works initiative, which is funded through the Dormant Accounts Fund. Officials within my Department work closely with Tusla’s National Prevention, Partnership and Family Support Team to realise the goals of this project.

In relation specifically to refugees, a key element of the International Refugee Protection Programme (IRPP) whole of government’ approach to integration begins with resettlement in the community. Tusla also takes special measures to recruit specialised foster carers to offer suitable placements to separated children seeking international protection (SCSIP) in Ireland.

The integration of programme refugees is supported through the provision of access to mainstream State services. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth funds local resettlement support teams by way of grants to local authorities. Each Support Teams consist of a Resettlement Support Worker with social care and integration experience, and an Arabic-speaking Intercultural Support Worker.