Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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765. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware that only 15 of the 26 High Court-directed special care beds in the State are currently operational due to ongoing staffing shortages; the steps being taken to ensure full capacity is restored; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54701/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I am advised by Tusla that as of 10 October 2025, there are 15 young people in Special Care. At present, there are no young people who are currently the subject of a Special Care Order (in accordance with the Child Care Act 1991) and there are no young people awaiting placement within a Special Care Unit.

I am fully aware of the significant challenges facing special care services. While the operation of special care and the provision of special care beds is the statutory responsibility of Tusla, officials from my Department are actively engaging with Tusla in relation to the challenges impacting special care.

Tusla have indicated that difficulties in the recruitment and retention of staff is the primary limiting factor on capacity in Special Care Units. Officials from this Department continue to work with Tusla to support them in addressing the immediate staffing shortages in special care provision.

Following extensive engagements between my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation a new grade and pay scale for Special Care has been sanctioned in an effort to increase staff numbers. The new grade provides additional opportunities and a higher career salary scale for both Social Care Workers and Social Care Leaders. As of September 2025, this new Tusla Special Care Worker grade offers approximately 20% higher pay at top-of-scale compared to the Social Care Worker grade.

€26m has been allocated to special care in Budget 2026, an increase of over €6m on Budget 2025. This is to support the opening of all 26 special care beds by the end of 2026. This investment will facilitate an increase in capacity and enhanced provision by funding new special care staff grades, staff well-being initiatives and additional therapeutic supports. It includes €1.3m to provide an enhanced multi-disciplinary therapeutic service to children on the edge of special care, in special care, and transitioning from a special care environment.

Officials from my Department also support the ongoing work by Tusla to develop and introduce a Social Care Worker apprenticeship scheme. The scheme is currently being formulated in collaboration with relevant stakeholders including Tusla and the Higher Education Institutes and will serve as a further pipeline of recruitment into social care settings, including Special Care.

Tusla has implemented several measures to address the ongoing challenges, including the establishment of a dedicated retention team to lead on key initiatives, the launch of rolling recruitment campaigns, the introduction of a new grade within the service, the provision of psychological supports to staff and the introduction of various well-being initiatives.

Officials from my Department will continue to provide support to Tusla as necessary to address the current significant challenges facing this service.

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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766. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the rationale for the proposed restructuring of Tusla’s special care services of a facility (details supplied); whether a full consultation with staff and their representative union took place; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54702/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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767. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has considered the impact of the proposed restructuring on the regulatory responsibilities of persons in charge; if HIQA has been consulted regarding the potential implications for the registration of special care centres (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54703/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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768. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if an updated job specification has been issued for new and revised roles under the proposed restructuring of facilities (details supplied); if not, when these documents will be provided to staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54704/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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769. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if an equality or risk assessment has been undertaken on the proposed restructuring of Tusla’s special care services, given widespread staff concerns that the changes could result in centre closures (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54705/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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770. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will address concerns that the proposed amalgamation of the social care leader and social care worker grades into a single “special care worker” grade will erode the supervisory and support structures essential for safe service delivery in special care centres (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54706/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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772. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will clarify whether Tusla’s previous “agency incentive scheme” was approved by her Department; the cost implications of this scheme; the safeguards now in place to prevent pay disparities between agency and directly employed staff (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54708/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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773. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide details of any proposals submitted by Tusla to increase the “special care allowance” to improve recruitment and retention; whether her Department supports these measures; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54709/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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774. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to outline the engagement that has taken place between her Department, Tusla, and a union (details supplied) to address ongoing staff retention issues in special care; if she will ensure that the restructuring plan is paused pending meaningful consultation with affected staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54710/25]

Robert O'Donoghue (Dublin Fingal West, Labour)
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775. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to explain the reason for the decision by her Department not to approve the proposed increase in the “special care allowance” for staff working in Tusla’s special care centres (details supplied); if she will reconsider this decision given the acute staffing crisis and associated High Court implications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54711/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 766, 767, 768, 769, 770, 772, 773, 774 and 775 together.

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.

The Child and Family Agency (Tusla) has statutory responsibility for the operation of Special Care in Ireland, and for the provision of Special Care beds. The total combined capacity of Special Care Units is 26 beds across three centres. At present the capacity in these Units is for 15 children. Tusla have advised that capacity issues arise primarily to challenges recruiting and retaining social care workers.

Following extensive engagements between my Department and the Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation a new grade and pay scale for Special Care has been sanctioned in an effort to increase staff numbers. The new grade provides additional opportunities and a higher career salary scale for both Social Care Workers and Social Care Leaders. As of September 2025, this new Tusla Special Care Worker grade offers approximately 20% higher pay at top-of-scale compared to the Social Care Worker grade.

In February 2025, Tusla opened a rolling recruitment and advertising campaign, while concurrently engaging with staff representatives regarding implementation matters for the recently introduced grade. This engagement has continued into October 2025. The changes proposed would provide for the creation of additional posts at existing supervisory levels and the introduction of ‘on-shift’ arrangements for new posts at Deputy Social Care Manager level, to ensure appropriate supervision and support to the new Special Care worker grade.

Tusla advised they are satisfied that appropriate line management and governance systems remain in place to support its implementation, and as such, additional risk assessments are not necessary at this point. Tusla will continue to keep the implementation of the new structure under review.

Tusla has actively engaged with staff representatives regarding implementation matters for the recently introduced Special Care Worker grade since February of this year. Officials from my Department continue to support Tusla as they engage with the trade union, and commence implementing the restructuring plan. Tusla has confirmed that there is no need to pause the restructuring plan.

The proposed new structure will continue to employ staff with the appropriate skills and knowledge. Tusla have advised that the Director of Special Care and their Deputy Directors and Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) representatives have regular engagements, and should any difficulties arise, they will be addressed through these engagements. Any changes to the line management structure will be subject to an application to vary the registration of the special care centres in line with normal procedures and subject to HIQA’s agreement.

Regarding the job descriptions for the newly created Special Care Worker grade, Tusla advise that they will be shared with both staff and management in the coming days. Job descriptions for Social Care Managers and Deputy Social Care Managers are broad in scope as they cover roles in both special care, mainstream residential care and community services. Allocation of duties to individuals will continue to be the responsibility of service management and is based on service needs.

With respect to the "agency incentive scheme" Tusla have advised that this was briefly implemented in one special care centre to maintain operational capacity during significant staff shortages, although no staff were hired under this scheme.

While the overall operation of Special Care and the provision of Special Care beds is the statutory responsibility of Tusla, officials from my Department continue to actively engage with Tusla in relation to the issues impacting on Special Care and will continue to provide additional support to Tusla to address the current challenges.