Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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492. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any analysis has been conducted on market concentration within private residential childcare provision; and if so, whether any risks relating to provider dependency or limited competition have been identified. [29304/26]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Thank you Deputy, for your question. As this relates to an operational matter within Tusla I have referred your question to Tusla to reply directly to you.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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493. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the State has a strategic plan to reduce reliance on private residential childcare placements through expansion of public provision; and the timeline for such measures. [29305/26]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Department of Children, Disability and Equality has resourced Tusla to maintain and expand its provision of services through significant additional funding across successive Budgets. In Budget 2026, an overall increase of €177 million was secured for Tusla, representing a 14% increase in Tusla’s budget over its 2025 allocation. This brings Tusla’s total funding to over €1.4 billion for 2026. This increase includes an additional €53 million for mainstream residential care. Tusla plans to invest a total of €286 million in expanding mainstream residential care in 2026, increasing the number of placements for children in need to over 800.

Further, Tusla has opened an additional 38 residential care placements in 2025 and is on track to open a further 47 additional placements in 2026 and into 2027. Tusla has said that a further six properties are in the process of acquisition. In terms of staffing, Tusla is working to increase its workforce capacity through new supply routes, such as its apprenticeship programme, improved recruitment of social workers and social care workers, which has increased by 11% over the last three years, and improved retention of staff.

Section 41 of the Child and Family Act, 2013 stipulates that the Minister provides guidance to Tusla in the form of the Performance Framework, which is published every three years. The Performance Framework is an opportunity to provide the Agency with policy guidance, direction and prioritisation parameters for the preparation of its corporate plan. Further, each year of the Framework is further governed by an annual Performance Statement, which provides direction for Tusla within the overall guidance of the Framework. The current Performance Statement includes priority 4.3.a, which states that Tusla should continue its efforts to increase its residential care capacity while reducing reliance on private provision and special emergency arrangements.

Work is also underway on The National Policy Framework for Alternative Care. The Framework will aim to articulate a future and Whole of Government vision of alternative care in Ireland, and will also deliver on a Programme for Government commitment in this regard. A robust consultation process is currently underway to support the development of the National Policy Framework, through which the views of members of the public, stakeholders, key workers and carers, and people with care experience will be captured. The Framework will seek to address current issues in accessing a sufficient number of appropriate care places, and articulate a longer term vision for how the care system will operate into the future. The Framework is expected to be delivered in summer 2026.