I will start by thanking Independent Ireland for bringing forward this important motion. It is very important that we talk in this Chamber about Tusla as often as we can. I have concerns around the motion as moved tonight, particularly around those services that, as contributors have said, are working well, those who are working well within the system and what would happened to them if we had to disband Tusla. Having said all that, there is no doubt that we need to see reform. We know that. That is why we are welcoming this discussion and the fact that Independent Ireland has brought forward this motion tonight. Much deeper reforms are needed within that organisation. Equally, we want to see the Minister for children become much more hands-on with the issue of child protection, as has been mentioned by other contributors tonight. In terms of reform, Tusla has initiated the integrated reform programme. This has not been done entirely with staff, and it has been the case that staff have been dragged along with this reform. This has led to a number of issues within the organisation. I believe a number of safeguarding concerns will be found to have resulted from this reform. I ask the Minister to engage with the Irish Association of Social Workers on these concerns. It has been highlighted to me that the Department of Children, Disability and Equality has recently changed the chief social worker within the Department to a principal officer. This was, as I understand it, already a position seconded from Tusla. I find both of these decisions concerning. First, the chief social worker is a key position in terms of policy advice for the Minister. They have practical knowledge and experience of child protection that cannot be replaced. Second, having someone seconded from Tusla removes the independence needed by social workers on the ground who have to raise their concerns. Having a colleague in this role seems to undermine that independence. The Minister of State will hopefully clarify that issue for the social workers in her reply. Over the last number of months, I have been raising the issue of special emergency arrangements and the serious safeguarding risks these pose to vulnerable children, as colleagues have mentioned. Tusla has handed out close to €240 million to 93 unregulated providers of SEAs. This includes one company that has been paid over €41 million. Will the Minister of State outline to the House why the Department and Tusla deem it acceptable to pay these clearly unqualified companies, like hotels, taxi companies and even the likes of Harvey Norman and the Irish School of Motoring, to provide care to vulnerable young people? What is the tendering process for special emergency arrangements? Is there any governance of these facilities? Are there ongoing inspections? How are they staffed? Are they staffed by trained social care workers? Have any safeguarding or child protection concerns been raised with Tusla? The Minister of State must use her time tonight to address the serious concerns that have been raised in this debate. The ombudsman has also raised concerns about these providers, stating that they do not meet the needs of children. The Minister of State will be well aware of reporting in thejournal.ie that young people are now facing criminal charges due to the damage in these facilities. The criminalisation of these young people is only going to further traumatise them. Fixing windows or doors should not be the primary concern of any provider of care. It must always be the immediate care of the young person concerned. We are told that these are only temporary arrangements, yet further reporting has shown that one young person spent close to three and a half years in these settings. Young people in care need stability. They need a safe place. Having a child spend three and a half years in a hotel, bed and breakfast or other temporary arrangement is a wasted childhood. Special emergency arrangements are a symptom of the chronic problems facing a number of our public services, including Tusla, namely, the privatisation and outsourcing of care, the lack of workforce planning and the ongoing housing and cost-of-living crisis, all of which we should be talking about as part of this debate. The SEAs highlight the increasing and ongoing privatisation of the caring sector. Tusla and the HSE are spending millions of euro on more expensive agency workers when it would be cheaper to recruit public workers. The money handed out to SEA providers could have been used to set up nearly 150 new residential centres, accommodating nearly 600 young people. That is where this money should be spent. We need to have a clearer workforce plan with targets to tackle to the lack of recruitment of social workers and social care workers in the public sector. This coincides with the expansion of public mainstream residential facilities for children. This recruitment challenge facing the sector is compounded by the ongoing failure of the Government to get to grips with the housing emergency in this country as well as the rising cost of living. Young people are now being left with little choice but to emigrate elsewhere for a better standard of living and to save for a mortgage. We now have a serious brain drain in this country across key and essential areas like social work and therapies such as occupational therapy and speech and language therapy. I also raise the decision to end the service-level agreement, SLA, for a specialist play therapy service in the Waterford-Wexford region. It was brought to my attention by a number of colleagues and foster carers in that area. The information was contained in a recent communication for Tusla's regional chief officer for the south east. Those involved tell me that, despite appearances, Tusla has not turned around its initial decision to end the SLA with St. Brigid's, thereby severely disrupting play therapies that are badly needed in the Waterford-Wexford region. However, it has changed the decision in Carlow-Kilkenny, delaying the ending of the SLAs, an issue I have raised previously with the Minister. The changes sound good. A hub is to be offered, staffed and ready in the future, but the question remains as to what happens to the foster children in the meantime, particularly those using the current service in the south east? I ask the Minister of State to talk to Tusla about these proposed changes. I also raise the idea of foster carers in general, supporting the calls here tonight of a State pension for all our foster carers, who go above and beyond day in, day out in helping this State on the great work they do. They are, without a doubt, in need of such a State pension and must be supported in their calls. I ask that the Minister of State take that on board. These are just some of the serious failures of the Government regarding child protection and supports in this country. We must address them urgently if we are to ensure the long-term future of young people and workers in this country. It is important that we are having this debate tonight and that we get urgent answers to the questions that many of us have raised in the Chamber. It is very important that Independent Ireland introduced this motion, and I look forward to the replies of the Minister of State to the many queries and concerns that Members have raised.

Sentiment score: 0.11

In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the next weekly division time.

Sentiment score: -0.20