Written Answers Nos. 830-849
830. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla maintains any centralised audit, review or quality assurance process relating to emergency child removals carried out under sections 12 and 13 of the Child Care Act 1991. [36688/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational matters managed by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, this question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
831. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of emergency child removal applications made under sections 12 and 13 of the Child Care Act 1991 in each year from 2020 to 2025, and the number granted, refused or withdrawn. [36689/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs 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.
832. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla records or analyses complaints, adverse findings, judicial criticisms or legal challenges arising from emergency child removal decisions under sections 12 and 13 of the Child Care Act 1991. [36690/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational matters managed by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, this question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
833. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla has conducted any internal review of the governance, oversight, consistency or proportionality of emergency child removal practices under the Child Care Act 1991 since 2020. [36691/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra834. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any national policy, procedural framework or mandatory oversight mechanism exists governing decision-making thresholds for emergency child removals under sections 12 and 13 of the Child Care Act 1991. [36692/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra835. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether consideration will now be given to including emergency child removal decisions within Tusla’s enterprise risk management or corporate governance framework following confirmation that no such consideration has previously taken place. [36693/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 833, 834 and 835 together.
As questions 36691; 36692; 36693 are all related to "emergency child removals" managed by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, these questions have been composited and referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
836. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason Tusla does not readily hold annual expenditure data on private childcare placements prior to 2024; and whether she is satisfied with the Agency’s financial data retention and reporting systems. [36695/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI believe the central issue here is one of comparability pre-2024 categorisation may differ from post 2024 categorisation making it difficult to compare expenditure at the level of granularity the Deputy sought.
Like most Government bodies, Tusla is embracing the development of stronger more capable reporting structures and is enhancing its monitoring of its activity.
837. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla maintains a central database recording expenditure by private childcare placement provider; and if so, whether she will provide the total expenditure by provider for 2024 and 2025. [36696/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs 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.
838. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total number of children placed in private residential childcare settings in each year from 2020 to 2026, in tabular form. [36697/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs 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.
839. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the proportion of all residential childcare expenditure accounted for by private providers in each year from 2020 to 2026. [36700/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs 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.
840. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of Tusla-operated residential childcare places added nationally in each year from 2020 to 2026. [36702/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs 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.
841. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla tracks the number of emergency placements made due to shortages in public residential capacity; and if she will provide the annual figures from 2020 to 2026. [36703/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs 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.
842. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the Department has received any briefing regarding risks associated with reliance on private residential childcare placements, including cost inflation, placement shortages, or geographic dependency. [36704/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraTusla, the Child and Family Agency, has acknowledged its increased reliance on private providers in recent years, and has committed to incrementally reduce this. It also intends to increase its provision of statutory placements, as well as those provided by community & voluntary organisations.
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.
While no specific target has been set, Tusla reports that it 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.
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. This will include a robust consultation process, 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.
843. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if childcare providers in receipt of core funding are obliged under their funding agreement to maintain continuity of services for enrolled families; the obligations that exist where a provider changes the age cohorts it caters for, resulting in families losing access to childcare services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36751/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraCore Funding is a grant to Partner Services. It is allocated based on several elements, with the majority of funding based on “staffed capacity”, which is the number of child places the service can accommodate according to the services reported staffing levels. Core Funding is designed to support quality in services, including through better terms and conditions for staff and supporting graduate leadership in services, sustainability for providers through substantially increased funding to the sector, paid on a consistent and equitable basis, and enhanced public management, with associated conditions in relation to fee control, data collection, governance, compliance, and cost transparency.
To become a Partner Service an approved provider must enter into a Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement with the Department and comply with a range of conditions. Requirements of the scheme include fee management conditions, offering the National Childcare Scheme and the Early Childhood Care and Education programme to eligible children and the requirement to submit financial returns to the Department.
Early learning and care and school aged childcare services are provided by private enterprises, either private for-profit or non- profit organisations and therefore have discretion to determine the age cohorts they cater for. The terms and conditions of Core Funding do not include requirements for Partner Services to provide the same service types in a service from one programme year to the next. Additionally, there is no specific provision within Core Funding agreement that instructs providers to maintain continuity of services for enrolled families.
When services wish to discontinue a service type, the Core Funding conditions do require that Partner Services must give parents 20 working days’ notice if they intend to discontinue this service type.
Any parent who would like assistance regarding their childcare are encouraged to contact their local City/County Childcare Committee, contact details for which can be found here: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/city-and-county-childcare-committees/.
844. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason the HSE does not currently collect the average duration of vacancies within Children's Disability Network Teams; whether she considers this compatible with effective workforce planning; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36861/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
845. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of Children's Disability Network Teams currently operating below recommended staffing levels; the staffing deficit within each team, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36862/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
846. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any national target vacancy rate exists for Children's Disability Network Teams; whether any escalation mechanism applies where vacancy levels exceed defined thresholds; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36863/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
847. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of Children's Disability Network Team posts approved under previous new service developments which remained unfilled at year end 2025; the associated unspent allocation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36864/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
848. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any independent review has been conducted into the impact of staffing vacancies within Children's Disability Network Teams on waiting times, unmet need, delayed intervention or child outcomes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36865/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
849. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently awaiting initial assessment, therapy intervention or review by a Children's Disability Network Team, broken down by waiting time band and HSE region; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36866/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
