Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
3. Deputy Thomas Gould asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she will intervene to prevent the closure of homeless prevention services in an organisation (details supplied) in Cork in mid-January; and to ensure the service does not cease in providing vital community support to homeless young people through social care and work [73584/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraWill the Minister give a commitment to intervene to prevent the closure in mid-January of a homeless prevention service in Cork, and to ensure the service does not cease to provide vital community support to homeless young people through social care work?
I appreciate the Deputy raising this question. I have been informed, and it is my understanding, that the services managed by Tusla's Liberty Street House are not being curtailed. This is the information that has been given to me. Tusla is undertaking a reform programme that will continue to meet the needs of service users of Liberty Street House. The integration of services will mean that the services provided within Liberty Street House will align under the proposed structures of the front door teams. Front door teams are a feature of the new Tusla referral and service user management process that will ensure each referral is assessed and addressed by the appropriate experts. Staff will work as part of multidisciplinary teams to ensure a range of professionals with different skill sets in the area of social work and therapeutic services are available to respond to the needs of children, young people and families in the right way at the right time.
The preventive aspect of work undertaken in the Liberty Street House services will align with family support and safety and welfare structures. All relevant cases in Liberty Street House services will continue to be worked on with the newly aligned networks in 2026. Liberty Street House services provide a domestic violence and abuse support service. Under the reform programme the focus will move towards the impact of domestic violence, particularly on children, bringing in expertise developed in Liberty Street House to the front door teams across networks. Equally, Liberty Street House staff who have a developed skill set in working with teenagers will continue to utilise these skills in their alignment within the front door teams.
Tusla's structural reform will bring opportunities to young people and families that Liberty Street House services work with. It will also deliver an integrative response of early intervention, family support and child welfare. Liberty Street House has responded to these needs in myriad ways since it opened. I appreciate the work done by the team in Liberty Street House on behalf of the State and local government.
I thank the Minister for the update but the information I have is that Liberty Street House will be out of staff by mid-January and is currently not recruiting. I understand it has not replaced the staff who have left, been redeployed or have retired. I want the Minister to be right, and I hope she is right, in what she has just said here. Liberty Street House has been operating very successfully for the last two decades in providing really vital services for young people who are at risk of homelessness. It is said now that it is being amalgamated with Tusla's front door teams. At one stage Liberty Street House was helping over 200 young people. Maybe the Minister's information is more correct but I am telling her, from the people who work on the ground, that the staff will be gone by mid-January. If the Minister is saying that is not the case, we need clarity on the matter. This is a vital service for young people at risk of homelessness.
I appreciate the Deputy raising this. My information is that the services provided by Liberty Street House are not being curtailed. Indeed, the cases will continue right throughout 2026. The new model of practice is to ensure that all services are available through multidisciplinary teams at the time when they are needed, in the one place at the right time. I am very happy for the Deputy to bring to me any specific information that he might not be in a position to share on the floor of the House. I am very happy to look at that and revert to the Deputy. It is my understanding, as I have said, that the services are not being curtailed. The new vision of service, which I think is a good vision of service, means that when a person presents themselves there is a single opportunity for all of the different supports they might need to be made available at that time from the front door teams. The front door teams approach emphasises the notion that there is no wrong door, that there is a single point of access, and that whatever supports the person requires are presented and available to him or her at that given time.
I have two worries on foot of the Minister's comments. She is saying that the services are being integrated. Is Liberty Street House being closed down? Liberty Street House provides a service to young people who are at risk of homelessness and who enter homelessness. I am looking for a commitment now that this will not be closed down. The information I have is from people who are in the know. They have told me that no additional staff have been taken on to replace those who have left through retirements and redeployments, and that the few who remain will be gone by the middle or end of January. The Minister talks about integrating services, which sounds great, but I am worried about the children who are not as severely at risk, such as a young person who is at risk of homelessness. A young person who is sleeping on the streets needs intervention, 100%, but there is no point in a young person who is at risk of becoming homeless ending up on the streets too. We need both types of children to be looked after. I am worried, in light of what is being proposed now, that Tusla is going down a different road. We need to save Liberty Street House.
The information that has been given to me is that all the services the Deputy has outlined, which are really important intervention services, are not being curtailed and that all cases will continue into 2026. It is a very valuable service that is being provided. It is important that whatever supports are required within the family structure for individuals, for young people or for older people are available at a given time, at the right time and in the right place. My information is that nothing is being curtailed and that everything is continuing in terms of services in 2026. If there is something different that the Deputy wants to bring to me, I will be more than happy - sincerely - to engage further with him on the matter. I will happily do that with the Deputy at the beginning of the year if that is what he wishes.
Go raibh maith agat.
