I must now deal with a postponed division relating to the motion regarding flexible structural reform of child welfare governance. On Wednesday, 18 March 2026, on the question, "That the amendment to the motion be agreed to", a division was claimed and in accordance with Standing Order 85(2), that division must be taken now.
Structural Reform of Child Welfare Governance: Motion (Resumed) [Private Members]
The following motion was moved by Deputy Ken O'Flynn on Thursday, 19 March 2026:
That Dáil Éireann:
notes that:
— child protection and welfare represent one of the most fundamental constitutional obligations of the State;
— Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, operates as a statutory agency at arm's length from direct departmental control, funded by the Exchequer, but structurally separate from the Department of Children, Disability and Equality;
— this governance model has resulted in:
— blurred lines of accountability between the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, and Tusla;
— delays in political responsiveness; and
— ongoing difficulty for elected representatives seeking urgent intervention in serious child welfare matters;
— over the past decade, repeated reviews and audits have highlighted:
— delays in child protection assessments;
— social worker recruitment and retention challenges;
— a backlog in referrals; and
— inconsistent case management standards;
— Tusla's Annual Report and Financial Statements 2024, confirms that:
— 451 organisations were funded under Section 56 arrangements;
— 121 additional organisations were funded through the Education Support Service; and
— a total of approximately 572 external organisations received funding in 2024;
— the scale and fragmentation of these funding arrangements raises legitimate questions regarding:
— administrative overheads;
— governance duplication;
— financial transparency; and
— strategic coherence; and
— in a number of comparable jurisdictions, child protection functions are directly embedded within Ministerial Departments, ensuring clearer democratic accountability;
acknowledges that:
— frontline social workers, and child protection professionals, perform critical and demanding work under significant pressure;
— any reform must protect service continuity and safeguard vulnerable children; and
— structural reform must be carefully phased, and evidence based; and
calls on the Government to:
— commission an independent governance review, examining the feasibility of dissolving Tusla as a separate legal entity, and transferring its statutory powers directly to the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality;
— publish, within 12 months, a White Paper outlining options to:
— establish a child protection directorate within the Department of Children, Disability and Equality;
— consolidate policy and operational authority;
— streamline funding and procurement structures;
— enhance direct Ministerial accountability;
— develop a phased transition plan, if recommended, over a 12 to 24-month period, to ensure uninterrupted service delivery; and
— strengthen financial oversight mechanisms, including unified budgeting and improved reporting transparency to the Oireachtas; and
— establish or reinforce an independent statutory inspectorate to ensure robust oversight under any revised governance model.
Debate resumed on amendment No. 1:
To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:
"welcomes that:
— Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, operates as the single dedicated agency with a clear statutory remit;
— Tusla is held to account through robust governance and oversight arrangements;
— Tusla is served by well qualified staff who are committed to delivering essential child protection and welfare services to vulnerable members of society;
— staff in Tusla enjoy statutory independence, necessary for the performance of their duties in assessing and providing essential services to children and families;
— Tusla has initiated a significant integrated Reform Programme in 2026, which is:
— promoting equity in service availability, through more equitable Regions and Areas, consistent structures and spans of control, and transparent resource allocation;
— promoting capacity, through targeting resources where most needed, scaling capacity in line with demand, and using evidence-based data for service planning; and
— promoting quality, through more consistent, integrated, digitally enabled services, leaner business processes, multidisciplinary teams, and a focus on face-to-face time with children and families; and
— these reforms provide for the creation of a single record for each child and young person, which will support integrated working, including a more streamlined referral and allocation system for residential care, improved communications, accurate data to improve decision making on an individual level, improved resource allocation and enhanced monitoring of performance on a local regional and organisational basis;
notes that:
— Tusla has experienced a 46 per cent increase in referrals since 2021, and a 500 per cent increase in separated children seeking international protection in Ireland since 2022;
— in the almost 12 years since its establishment, Tusla's annual budget has more than doubled, going from €609 million in 2014, to over €1.3 billion for 2026;
— Tusla has seen budget increases in most years, with significant investment annually since 2020, including a 14 per cent increase in 2026;
— the increased funding for 2026 includes a capital budget allocation of €35 million, which will be directed to increasing Tusla-owned residential care settings, including special care, thereby reducing its requirement for privately operated Special Emergency Arrangements;
— investment in recent budgets has allowed Tusla to, amongst other things:
— increase supports to foster carers;
— hire additional staff including social workers;
— begin to increase capacity in residential care and special care; and
— improve Internet Technology systems;
— notwithstanding the increased demands, the good work of Tusla is evidenced by:
— the overwhelming majority of referrals to Tusla resulting in children and parents being supported in their homes;
— 99 per cent of children in care are assigned to an allocated key worker;
— retention of high levels of children in care who are in foster care, as 87 per cent of all children in care are in foster care;
— the increasing number of foster parents signing up to support children;
— the Central Statistics Office finding that approximately nine in ten children who left care since April 2018, aged 18-23 years by January 2024, were in substantial employment, enrolled in school, or in Further or Higher Education for each of the years 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022;
— the staff retention rate is 95 per cent; and
— innovative solutions to recruitment challenges, including its work with the Higher Education sector in developing pathways to social work and social care work, and with CORU, in developing an apprenticeship pathway; and
— so many community and voluntary groups nationwide carry out great work, funded and overseen by Tusla's Commissioned Services team, in providing essential services to vulnerable people, and this includes Family Resource Centres, counselling services and area-based childhood programmes; and
further notes that Tusla, as an organisation of over 5,000 people, was established to have a specialist management team with a deep knowledge, experience and understanding of operational service delivery in the area of social work and social care, as opposed to the Department's more general focus on advancing policy and legislation, which extends to the important areas of Disability Services, Early Learning and Care and School Age Care and Equality.".
-(Minister for Children, Disability and Equality)
Amendment put:
The Dáil divided: Tá, 79; Níl, 69; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Aird, William.
- Ardagh, Catherine.
- Boland, Grace.
- Brabazon, Tom.
- Brennan, Brian.
- Brennan, Shay.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Malcolm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Michael.
- Callaghan, Catherine.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carrigy, Micheál.
- Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
- Collins, Niall.
- Connolly, John.
- Cooney, Joe.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Currie, Emer.
- Daly, Martin.
- Dempsey, Aisling.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Dolan, Albert.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Heneghan, Barry.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Keogh, Keira.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Maxwell, David.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McCarthy, Noel.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McCormack, Tony.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Séamus.
- McGreehan, Erin.
- Moran, Kevin Boxer.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Moynihan, Shane.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Murphy, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Neville, Joe.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connell, Maeve.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Meara, Ryan.
- O'Shea, John Paul.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- Ó Cearúil, Naoise.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Muirí, Naoise.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Scanlon, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Timmins, Edward.
- Toole, Gillian.
- Troy, Robert.
- Ward, Barry.
Níl
- Ahern, Ciarán.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Bennett, Cathy.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Byrne, Joanna.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Coppinger, Ruth.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Cummins, Jen.
- Daly, Pa.
- Devine, Máire.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gibney, Sinéad.
- Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Graves, Ann.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Hayes, Eoin.
- Hearne, Rory.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Eoghan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lawless, Paul.
- Lawlor, George.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGettigan, Donna.
- McGuinness, Conor D.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
- Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Robert.
- O'Flynn, Ken.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Hara, Louis.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
- Quaide, Liam.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Rice, Pádraig.
- Sheehan, Conor.
- Sherlock, Marie.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Wall, Mark.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Michael Collins and Ken O'Flynn.
Amendment declared carried.
Question put: "That the motion, as amended, be agreed to."
The Dáil divided: Tá, 79; Níl, 69; Staon, 0.
Tá
- Aird, William.
- Ardagh, Catherine.
- Boland, Grace.
- Brabazon, Tom.
- Brennan, Brian.
- Brennan, Shay.
- Brophy, Colm.
- Browne, James.
- Burke, Colm.
- Burke, Peter.
- Butler, Mary.
- Buttimer, Jerry.
- Byrne, Malcolm.
- Byrne, Thomas.
- Cahill, Michael.
- Callaghan, Catherine.
- Calleary, Dara.
- Canney, Seán.
- Carrigy, Micheál.
- Cleere, Peter 'Chap'.
- Collins, Niall.
- Connolly, John.
- Cooney, Joe.
- Crowe, Cathal.
- Currie, Emer.
- Daly, Martin.
- Dempsey, Aisling.
- Devlin, Cormac.
- Dillon, Alan.
- Dolan, Albert.
- Feighan, Frankie.
- Fleming, Sean.
- Foley, Norma.
- Gallagher, Pat the Cope.
- Grealish, Noel.
- Harkin, Marian.
- Healy-Rae, Michael.
- Heneghan, Barry.
- Heydon, Martin.
- Higgins, Emer.
- Keogh, Keira.
- Lahart, John.
- Lawless, James.
- Lowry, Michael.
- Maxwell, David.
- McAuliffe, Paul.
- McCarthy, Noel.
- McConalogue, Charlie.
- McCormack, Tony.
- McEntee, Helen.
- McGrath, Séamus.
- McGreehan, Erin.
- Moran, Kevin Boxer.
- Moynihan, Aindrias.
- Moynihan, Michael.
- Moynihan, Shane.
- Murnane O'Connor, Jennifer.
- Murphy, Michael.
- Naughton, Hildegarde.
- Neville, Joe.
- O'Brien, Darragh.
- O'Callaghan, Jim.
- O'Connell, Maeve.
- O'Dea, Willie.
- O'Donnell, Kieran.
- O'Meara, Ryan.
- O'Shea, John Paul.
- O'Sullivan, Christopher.
- Ó Cearúil, Naoise.
- Ó Fearghaíl, Seán.
- Ó Muirí, Naoise.
- Richmond, Neale.
- Scanlon, Eamon.
- Smith, Brendan.
- Smyth, Niamh.
- Timmins, Edward.
- Toole, Gillian.
- Troy, Robert.
- Ward, Barry.
Níl
- Ahern, Ciarán.
- Bacik, Ivana.
- Bennett, Cathy.
- Boyd Barrett, Richard.
- Brady, John.
- Buckley, Pat.
- Byrne, Joanna.
- Carthy, Matt.
- Clarke, Sorca.
- Collins, Michael.
- Conway-Walsh, Rose.
- Coppinger, Ruth.
- Cronin, Réada.
- Crowe, Seán.
- Cullinane, David.
- Cummins, Jen.
- Daly, Pa.
- Devine, Máire.
- Doherty, Pearse.
- Donnelly, Paul.
- Farrell, Mairéad.
- Fitzmaurice, Michael.
- Gannon, Gary.
- Gibney, Sinéad.
- Gogarty, Paul Nicholas.
- Gould, Thomas.
- Graves, Ann.
- Guirke, Johnny.
- Hayes, Eoin.
- Hearne, Rory.
- Kelly, Alan.
- Kenny, Eoghan.
- Kenny, Martin.
- Kerrane, Claire.
- Lawless, Paul.
- Lawlor, George.
- Mac Lochlainn, Pádraig.
- McDonald, Mary Lou.
- McGettigan, Donna.
- McGuinness, Conor D.
- Mitchell, Denise.
- Murphy, Paul.
- Mythen, Johnny.
- Nash, Ged.
- Newsome Drennan, Natasha.
- Ní Raghallaigh, Shónagh.
- Nolan, Carol.
- O'Callaghan, Cian.
- O'Donoghue, Robert.
- O'Flynn, Ken.
- O'Gorman, Roderic.
- O'Hara, Louis.
- O'Reilly, Louise.
- O'Rourke, Darren.
- Ó Broin, Eoin.
- Ó Laoghaire, Donnchadh.
- Ó Murchú, Ruairí.
- Ó Snodaigh, Aengus.
- Ó Súilleabháin, Fionntán.
- Quaide, Liam.
- Quinlivan, Maurice.
- Rice, Pádraig.
- Sheehan, Conor.
- Sherlock, Marie.
- Stanley, Brian.
- Tóibín, Peadar.
- Wall, Mark.
- Ward, Mark.
- Whitmore, Jennifer.
Staon
Tellers: Tá, Deputies Mary Butler and Emer Currie; Níl, Deputies Michael Collins and Ken O'Flynn.
Question declared carried.