I thank Deputy Gogarty for the opportunity to talk about child welfare, in particular in relation to Tusla. We all saw the harrowing documentary from "RTÉ Investigates" last week in relation to the failures of Tusla to protect some of our most vulnerable children. I commend the makers of this programme for an excellent piece of journalism. We got to meet Max in this documentary. He was sleeping in an underground car park at a Tusla premises in Naas, County Kildare. He left the care system last October after spending almost his entire life in Tusla's care. Now he is sleeping in one of its underground car parks. This is not right. Max is a product of a failed care system. When Tusla has no beds available it outsources the placement of children to private companies under what are known as special emergency arrangements, SEAs. These arrangements mean that children are accommodated in care facilities provided by private operators, including rented apartments, bed and breakfast accommodation, hotels and houses. These are unregulated and they are not open to independent inspection. I worked with vulnerable children in a previous job. I have constantly raised concerns about unregulated settings, in particular the fact that they are not investigated and looked into. Max's story is not unique. Last year 1,100 children in Tusla's care were placed in unregulated special emergency arrangements. This is an increase of 675 children on the number who were placed in these settings in 2023. Last year, 56 children under the age of 12 were placed in unregulated special emergency arrangements. I do not know this has been allowed to happen. That is despite the concerns of some judges who have ordered that children would not be placed into these unregulated settings. Last month Judge Conor Fottrell severely criticised profiteering by private operators providing unregulated placements for the most vulnerable children. He described it as "wrong" and "shameful". I wholeheartedly agree. The Government is paying millions to these private operators to keep the system going. It is time the Government took full responsibility for its actions.

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