I will conclude by again acknowledging the seriousness of the issues raised in this motion and the genuine concerns that motivate it. I have not heard all of the contributions but those that I have heard have been considered and informed. A number of issues were raised and I promise that those I have heard will be brought to the attention of the Minister. I cannot be sure of responses but I can guarantee that I will bring them to her attention. All of us agree here this evening that every child who comes to the attention of the State deserves safety, support and a system that responds effectively when they are at risk. That is the standard we must set and it is the standard this Government is committed to achieving. I reiterate the comments of the Minister, Deputy Foley, in expressing my deep appreciation for the more than 5,000 staff in Tusla who work every day with children and families in the most challenging circumstances. Their work is critical, often complex, not without risk and always carried out with professionalism and care. As the Minister has outlined, the proposal to dissolve Tusla and subsume its functions into the Department is neither prudent nor supported by the evidence. Tusla was created following decades of inquiries that called for a unified, accountable, professional, independent child protection agency. That model, carefully designed and grounded in statutory governance, remains the right one. It is important to say that Tusla today is undertaking a major programme of reform, improving governance, strengthening data systems, enhancing service access and building multidisciplinary teams. Its work is monitored robustly by the Department, by independent oversight bodies and by the Oireachtas. The Government continues to invest significantly, with increased funding, expanded recruitment pathways and strengthened supports for foster carers and residential care. The challenges are real. Demand is rising, risks are evolving, and recent tragic cases underscore the need for continual vigilance and improvement. That is why we are progressing legislative reform, advancing the well-being review, strengthening inter agency co-operation and placing the national review panel on a statutory footing. Dismantling the agency designed to address the very fragmentation highlighted in past inquiries would only set us back and it is fair to say that a number of colleagues recognised that during today's debate. It must be acknowledged that Tusla has experienced a 46% increase in referrals since 2021 and a 500% 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 from €609 million in 2014 to over €1.3 billion in 2026. This shows that the Government is prepared to invest and, indeed, is investing. Tusla has seen budget increases in most years, with significant investment annually since 2020, including a 14% increase in 2026. The Government is committed to providing these resources and investment in recent budgets has allowed Tusla, among other things, to increase supports for foster carers, to hire additional staff, including social workers, to begin to increase capacity in residential and special care, and to improve its information technology systems. Notwithstanding the increased demands, the good work of Tusla is evidenced by the fact that the overwhelming majority of referrals to Tusla result in children and parents being supported in their own homes. No less than 99% of children in care are assigned to an allocated key worker and high levels of children in care are in foster care. In fact, 87% of all children in care are in foster care in Ireland and we have increased the number of foster parents signing up to support children. The CSO has found that approximately nine out of every ten children who left care since April 2018, aged between 18 and 23 by January 2024, were either in substantial employment, enrolled in a school or in further or higher education for each of 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. That is quite a significant statistic. The staff retention rate in Tusla is 95% and innovative solutions to recruitment challenges are being found. Work is under way in the higher education sector to develop pathways to social work and social care work with CORU using an apprenticeship model. That shows real ambition in training social care workers and is something I am trying to progress further. The great work of many community and voluntary groups nationwide, funded and overseen by Tusla's commissioned services team, in providing essential services to vulnerable people must be recognised. These include family resource centres, counselling services and area-based childhood programmes. Having listened to some of the debate, it is clear that while there is not full agreement across the Opposition on what needs to be done, there is full agreement that we need to have the debate and to seek answers. The Government's responsibility is to strengthen the system we have, not replace it with a model already shown to be inadequate, and to allow Tusla to further improve and evolve, learning from the past. The Government remains firmly committed to a child protection and welfare system that is safe, transparent, robust, and centred at all times on the best interests of the child. For these reasons, the Government cannot support the motion.

Sentiment score: 0.39