Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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404. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of referrals to the national special care referrals committee per month, over the previous 24 months. [12963/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As this relates to data held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been forwarded to the Agency for direct reply to the Deputy.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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405. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth whether any guidance was given to social work teams to reduce the number of referrals made to the national special care referrals committee. [12964/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Special care units are secure, residential facilities for children in care aged between 11 and 17 years. They are detained under a High Court care order for a short-term period of stabilisation when their behaviour poses a real and substantial risk of harm to their life, health, safety, development or welfare. In line with Article 37 of the UN Convention of the Rights of the Child, such detention, which deprives a child of their liberty, is used only as a measure of last resort.

Tusla, The Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the operation of special care and the provision of special care beds. Every effort is being made by Tusla to support the provision of appropriate care, including special care where required, to vulnerable children.

Recruitment and Retention of staff in Special Care is a significant difficulty for Tusla. This has led to a reduction in operational capacity which has resulted in delays for young people being admitted to Special Care.

Across 2024 and into 2025, Tusla has continued to focus on addressing the well documented and complex issues impacting the capacity challenges in Special Care. All appropriate staff, led by the CEO and Executive Management Team(EMT), progressed key actions to increase special care capacity, reduce the delays for young people waiting admission to Special Care who are subject to a High Court Order, and to support the timely discharge of young people who no longer require placement in Special Care.

Actions taken by Tusla to date have included:

• Targeted and focussed campaigns to increase the number of staff working in Special Care
• Progression of new grades and remuneration specific to Special Care
• Targeted retention initiatives for special care staff
• Improvements to staff safety and wellbeing resulting in significant reductions metrics relating to Violence, Harassment and Aggression (VHA).
• Continued delivery of the Tusla Alternative Care strategies to increase placement capacity across the continuum of care (Foster Care, Residential Care and Step-down placements)
• Review of existing use of residential care centres to determine if they can be repurposed to support onward placement from Special Care.