Written Answers Nos. 1001-1020
1002. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the Department receives any aggregate reporting concerning complaints, judicial criticism, overturned orders, or adverse findings relating to Emergency Care Orders. [39849/26]
View answerWhere a member of An Garda Síochána has reasonable grounds for believing that there is an immediate and serious risk to the health or welfare of a child, the member may under section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991 (the Act), remove the child to a place of safety and deliver the child as soon as possible to the custody of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Tusla may then, following an assessment, apply to a Court for an emergency care order under section 13 of the Act. An emergency care order made by a Court places the child in the care of Tusla for a period of not more than eight days.
The Act is the statutory framework for child welfare and protection in Ireland. The legislation places a statutory duty on Tusla to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. The Act provides for the statutory criteria that must be met in order for a child to be removed from the custody or care of their parents, including under sections 12 or 13 respectively. Consequently, the evidential standards and proportionality thresholds as they apply to those sections are set out in primary legislation and are interpreted through the associated case law.
Court oversight of the granting of care orders, including emergency care orders, is a key aspect of upholding the rights of parents and families, and ensuring that children are taken into care only where it is found that they are unlikely to receive the care or protection they need unless a Court makes a care order in respect of that child.
While this Department does not receive specific aggregate reporting from Tusla regarding the matters the Deputy has outlined, the Department does fund the Child Law Project, which attends court proceedings in relation to children in care or coming into care, and produces anonymised reports on select cases. These reports have shed important light on topics affecting children in care, and act as a valuable resource for policy makers in this area. All of the reports of the Child Law Project can be found on its website: www.childlawproject.ie/.
Both Tusla and the Department are committed to promoting safe and high-quality practice in all areas of Alternative Care. This is achieved through the thorough application of regulations and standards that govern Alternative Care on behalf of the State, and is underpinned by the provisions of the Child Care Act 1991.
1003. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she is satisfied that Tusla's financial systems permitted consistent like-for-like tracking of private residential childcare expenditure prior to 2024. [39854/26]
View answerThank you Deputy, for your question. As this relates to an operational matter within Tusla your question has been referred to Tusla to reply directly to you.
1004. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any external review has been undertaken into Tusla's historical financial categorisation systems for private residential childcare expenditure. [39855/26]
View answerThank you Deputy, for your question. As this relates to an operational matter within Tusla your question has been referred to Tusla to reply directly to you.
1005. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether a standardised national reporting framework now exists for expenditure on private residential childcare placements. [39856/26]
View answerThank you, deputy for your question.
Tusla is committed to being a transparent and accountable organisation, with performance monitoring and management arrangements in place to focus on driving operational performance improvements.
Section 21 (2) of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 provide, inter alia, that the Board of Tusla is responsible for promoting high standards of corporate governance and the integrity of the Agency's accounting and reporting systems.
The annual financial statements provides a reporting framework for all of Tusla's expenditure, including expenditure on private residential childcare placements. Since 2024 the Annual Report & Financial Statements provide an additional appendix to detail the amount spent by individual provider as referenced in my response to your PQ32436/26 on 6th May.
It is also worth noting that Tusla is subject to annual audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General.
Additionally, Tusla must comply with public procurements rules in its engagement of private residential care providers.
1006. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla has identified risks arising from inconsistent historical expenditure categorisation relating to private residential childcare services. [39857/26]
View answerThank you Deputy, for your question. As this relates to an operational matter within Tusla your question has been referred to Tusla to reply directly to you.
1007. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any formal national workforce-risk threshold exists concerning vacancy levels within Children's Disability Network Teams. [39858/26]
View answerAs this question refers to the service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1008. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any Departmental assessment has been undertaken examining the relationship between Children’s Disability Network Team staffing vacancies and delayed therapeutic intervention. [39859/26]
View answerAs this question refers to the service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1009. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the forthcoming June 2026 Children’s Disability Network Team workforce review will be published in full. [39860/26]
View answerAs this question refers to the service matters, I have requested the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
1010. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has received all outstanding reports from the previous special rapporteur on child protection; when these reports will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39861/26]
View answerThe Special Rapporteur on Child Protection plays an important role in examining and reporting to Government on legal, legislative and litigation-related matters in respect of child protection.
The annual reports of the Special Rapporteur provide important input to the development and review of child protection policy and legislation as well as an objective and independent expert view of the child protection system in Ireland. The reports have been influential in informing policy responses across Government to improve the lives of children and young people.
Department officials have been engaging with the former Special Rapporteur on the matter of the submission of the annual reports following the completion of the rapporteur’s term of office on the 31 January 2026.
The Department received the final 2023/2024 Annual Report from the former Special Rapporteur on Child Protection on 21 May 2026. This report covers the period from February 2023 to January 2024 and also includes her observations on developments between July 2022 and January 2023, before her term of office commenced. The Department also received the final 2024/2025 Annual Report on 23 May 2026, which covers the period from February 2024 to January 2025.
The former Special Rapporteur has indicated that she expects to submit a draft of the 2025/2026 report will be delivered by the end of May 2026.
Once formally submitted to the Minister, an advance copy of each report is shared with Government Departments, on a confidential basis, so that they may consider the report and engage with relevant findings. The Department will then submit the report to Cabinet for approval to publish. Upon approval, it will be laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas and published on the Department’s website.
I was pleased to announce last week the appointment by the Government of Dr. Aisling Parkes as Special Rapporteur on Child Protection for a two-year term until 19 May 2028.
1011. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla records expenditure on private residential childcare placements on a provider-by-provider basis internally, notwithstanding the format used in published annual financial statements. [39862/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1012. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she will provide the ten private residential childcare placement providers that received the highest level of Tusla expenditure in 2024, together with the total amount paid to each provider. [39863/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1013. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total amount spent by Tusla on private residential childcare placements in each of the past ten years. [39864/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1014. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the percentage increase in Tusla expenditure on private residential childcare placements between 2020 and 2025. [39865/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1015. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla applies national pricing ceilings, benchmark rates, or value-for-money assessments when procuring private residential childcare placements. [39866/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1016. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla conducts comparative cost analysis between State-operated and privately operated residential childcare placements. [39867/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1017. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla records average weekly costs per child by private residential childcare provider. [39868/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1018. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla has identified any risks associated with market concentration or dependency on a small number of private residential childcare providers. [39869/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1019. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla publishes or intends to publish a central register of private residential childcare providers receiving public funding, including annual payments received. [39870/26]
View answerAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
1020. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children in County Tipperary waiting for assessment of need, speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, psychology and physiotherapy through children’s disability services; the average waiting time for each service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39931/26]
View answerAs this question refers to the service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
