Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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120. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the role his Department has taken in supporting young people who have been impacted by the consequences of Covid-19 lockdowns. [9639/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department actively developed supports for children and young people impacted by the COVID-19 restrictions across a range of service provisions including:

1. Participation and Consultation

2. Youth Services

3. Traveller and Roma

4. Oberstown Children Detention Campus

5. Children and Young People’s Services Committees

6. Growing Up in Ireland

7. Early Years

8. Irish Refugee Protection Programme

9. LGBTI+ Youth Forum

10. Child Welfare and Protection

1. Participation and Consultation

My Department worked closely with key youth sector representatives during the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure young people could continue to engage with youth organisations. My Department provided additional funding for youth services to enable them to provide online and outdoor activities through a number of COVID-19 grant schemes for youth services and youth clubs. My Department established a stakeholder group which met regularly during the periods of pandemic restrictions to develop sector specific guidance, and to enable youth services to operate safely.

The COVID-19 pandemic had on-going impact on the youth sector, with a reduction in the number of adult volunteers who are central to the delivery of universal youth services. My Department worked with stakeholders to encourage more adults to volunteer in youth organisations. Funding was provided to the National Youth Council of Ireland in 2023 to support the engagement and training of volunteers within the youth sector including a funding scheme for volunteer activation by youth organisations.

In addition, the youth division of my Department chaired a sub-group of cross-Government Implementation Group of the National Volunteering Strategy, and developed initiatives to encourage young people to engage in volunteering in civic society groups, including youth organisations.

3. Traveller and Roma

To counteract the significant impact that COVID-19 had on the Traveller and Roma communities, my Department provided additional funding to Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) from 2021 onwards to support existing, as well as new initiatives for Travellers and Roma. Some of these supports benefitted children and young people, for example:

• in Waterford, during the COVID-19 restrictions period, food parcels were delivered on a weekly basis to Roma families in dire need – mainly Roma families newly arrived in Waterford, with no income or support;
• a Dormant Accounts funded project commenced with funding of €400,000 in 2022 to provide for Traveller and Roma Community Education post supports to address the impact of COVID-19 on participation, retention and progression through the education system; funding was continued in 2023 and increased to €650,000 for 2024; and
• due to the impact of COVID-19, the Supporting Travellers and Roma (STAR) pilot education project supported in four regions of the country by my Department and the Department of Education was extended for a further period (to the end of June 2025). STAR aimed to prioritise “investment in community-based support mechanisms to ensure greater retention of Traveller and Roma children and youths in the education system”.

In line with legal requirements under the Children Act, Oberstown continued to meet the needs of young people in relation to their Care, Education, Health, Offending behaviour and Preparation for leaving – the five elements of CEHOP®, the Oberstown model of care. Any challenges associated with the Covid-19 lockdown for young people remanded and detained in Oberstown were addressed under the Oberstown model of care. Oberstown worked with a number of external agencies in supporting the needs of young people remanded and detained.

Children and Young People’s Services Committees (CYPSC) are funded by my Department along with contributions from Tusla and the Department of Health (Healthy Ireland) to ensure effective inter-agency co-ordination and collaboration in achieving the best outcomes for children and young people in their local area. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 27 CYPSC were very proactive in coordinating supports for children and young people, their families and communities.

In response to the pandemic and subsequent lockdown, CYPSC diverted a significant amount of their mainstream funding from my Department and under the Healthy Ireland initiative to plan and coordinate supports with local partners in their communities such as mental health and well – being supports for young people. As a result of the lockdown, CYPSC became aware of increased demand for mental health and well- being services and supports around the country, and CYPSC identified mental health as their top priority for young people. In 2022 (2023 statistics awaited) CYPSC co-ordinated and planned 55 projects around the country relating to Mental Health and well-being supports. A CYPSC Healthy Ireland Co-ordinator situated in Tusla works with CYPSC on the Healthy Ireland Initiative including co-ordination and administration of the CYPSC Healthy Ireland funding including oversight of mental health and well-being projects in progress or being proposed by CYPSC. Examples of the CYPSC projects to date (not exhaustive) include:

- Mental Health Needs Assessments

- Development of statistical profiles for youth mental health supports

- Trauma informed projects

- Identifying gaps in services locally

- Improved physical and mental Health Well Being of children and young people and families living in homelessness accommodation

- Access for young people to appropriate counselling services/counselling sessions

- Improvement of parenting skills and youth mental health

In 2024, my Department has allocated an additional €524,000 in funding for CYPSC Programme and Healthy Ireland funding which will increase the CYPSC capacity to respond to the challenges faced by children, young people and their families as a result of COVID.

In 2023 my Department provided an additional €700,000 through Dormant Accounts funding to Tusla which was allocated to 37 community and voluntary organisations. This additional funding increased access to counselling, psychotherapy and therapeutic services to children and young people experiencing social and economic disadvantage in communities around Ireland. It helped to address unmet need and reduce waiting lists for community-based counselling services and increased the provision of counselling and psychotherapy and other therapy types (play, drama, art and creative therapy, bereavement support) to children and young people who are socially/economically disadvantaged and who without support cannot access these services.

In 2024 I secured €1.5m in funding for this Dormant Accounts measure, an increase of €800,000 over 2023 which will increase reach and impact of these vital services for our young people.

The Growing Up in Ireland study follows the lives of young people who were born in 1998 and 2008. The study is well-placed to monitor the development and well-being of adolescents and young adults in the post-Covid era, including identifying groups in particular need of support. The study collects information directly from young people, as well as parents for the younger group, on how they are doing with their physical and mental health, school or work, relationships and economic circumstances. The study is able to make an almost unique contribution to knowledge in these areas because information was collected from the same young people for several years before the pandemic and plans to continue following their progress in the years ahead. It will be possible to compare the two groups at the same ages (13, 17 and 20 years) where the older group had gone through these life stages pre-Covid, and the younger group post-Covid.

Growing Up in Ireland has already provided valuable insights into how the pandemic restrictions have affected children and young people. A special GUI Covid survey was conducted in December 2020 by telephone with the participants at age 12 and 22 respectively. In 2022, the ESRI and my Department co-produced a report on how the restrictions affected young adults during a key transition stage as they started work and left education, the report is titled “Disrupted transitions? Young adults and the Covid -19 pandemic.” This data provides valuable evidence for policy makers and Government on decisions and policy affecting children and young people.

My Department provided extensive practice supports to staff during Covid to help Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare services (SAC) ensure a positive experience for children during the Covid pandemic, as ELC and SAC services remained open for most of the period. Supports included training and resources on trauma-informed practice, provided through support organisations. In addition, well-being advice and supports organised by the HSE were brought to the attention of early years educators and school age childcare practitioners.

During the pandemic, the Irish Refugee Protection Programme worked with Reception and Orientation Centres (ROCs) and Resettlement Officers to ensure that children continued to have access to learning during school closures. Resettlement Officers liaised with newly settled families to ensure that families were supported while schools were closed. Home visits took place. ROCs were supported with additional IT equipment where required to enable online learning.

9. International Protection Accommodation

My Department developed a Strategic Framework for Engagement on Child and Family Issues in the context of school closures and social distancing requirements put in place during the Covid-19 crisis. The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) and Child and Family Welfare Team developed this framework to support families living in our centres. In preparing the framework, outreach with key stakeholders took place including centre managers, Tusla, the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Rural and Community Development, the HSE, the Children’s Rights Alliance, One Family and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The framework encompasses three broad themes under which actions were rolled out:

- Child and family welfare;

- Identifying education requirements; and

- the general provision of activities for children.

10. LGBTI+ Youth Forum The LGBTI+ Youth Forum continued to meet online over the public health emergency, in order to support implementation of the Strategy. The Forum redrafted plans for a number of actions to take account of COVID-19 restrictions.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is the statutory body with responsibility to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. From the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020, my Department has worked closely with Tusla in order to ensure the prioritisation and continuity of key frontline services to support at-risk children and families.

Tusla will reply to the Deputy directly as to what Tusla is doing to support young people affected by the consequences of COVID-19 restriction measures.