2. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will provide additional and multiannual funding for therapeutic and counselling supports, such as play therapy, currently provided in family resource centres; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73394/25]

Sentiment score: 0.20

Will the Minister and her Department provide additional and multi-annual funding for therapeutic and counselling supports, such as play therapy? Will the Minister make a statement on it?

Sentiment score: 0.30

I thank the Minister for her reply. We can all agree, as we have done previously, that great work is being done by all the family resource centres. The Minister has, in fairness, expanded and created a number of new centres. The problem I am hearing is that the references and referrals coming from many organisations, such as Tusla, the HSE, CAMHS and local authorities, are overloading family resource centres and they are having great difficulty in meeting the demand that is there. We all know the benefits of play therapy and other counselling services. Is the Minister aware of all the referrals that are coming from the various organisations? Are they included in the figures she has just given the Dáil? Will she give multi-annual funding to our family resource centres to ensure they can cope with the additional demand they are facing at the moment? It is quite traumatic for them to have to turn people away from the doors when they are getting referrals. That is the unfortunate consequence of not having the multi-annual funding that should be available for them. That is the basis of my question, that is, the number of referrals they are getting from Government and non-Government organisations. Maybe the Minister can comment on that.

Sentiment score: 0.10

I appreciate that. I am highlighting this today because I have been speaking to a number of family resource centres. The number of referrals they are getting is causing complications for the services they are offering. I am highlighting this today to make the Minister, Deputy Foley, and the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, aware of the need for additional resources in our family resource centres. They have now come to a situation where there is an overload on what they can provide. The other point is the multiannual funding. They need to know what counsellors and therapists they can actually provide for the communities they work in. This is the issue that many of them have raised with me. Again I wish to put on the record that every euro spent is a very welcome euro for the communities they serve. So many of the family resource centres are up against it and on the coalface of so many community and social issues at the moment. I highlight the need for multiannual funding to ensure that our family resource services can survive and grow. That is the whole issue we are trying to highlight today.

Sentiment score: 0.16