Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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6. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [36611/24]

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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7. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [38045/24]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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8. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [40037/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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9. To ask the Taoiseach if he will report on the work of the child poverty and well-being programme in his Department. [40040/24]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 to 9, inclusive, together.

The child poverty and well-being programme office was established in the Department of the Taoiseach in spring 2023. Its purpose is to prioritise action across government in areas that will have the greatest impact for children and families experiencing poverty.

From Poverty to Potential: A Programme Plan for Child Poverty and Well-being 2023-2025 was published in August last year and is the initial programme plan for the child poverty and well-being programme office. The programme builds on six focus areas which have the potential to bring about significant change for families and children. These are income assistance and joblessness; early learning and childcare; reducing the cost of education; family homelessness; consolidating and integrating family and parental assistance, health and well-being; and enhancing participation in culture, arts and sport for children and young people affected by poverty. The role of my Department is to co-ordinate and focus Government action. To help facilitate this, the office has established a cross-government network on child poverty and well-being. The network has met four times to date, with the most recent meeting taking place last week.

On 23 May last, the programme office hosted the inaugural child poverty and well-being summit in Dublin Castle. This was a pivotal moment to take stock of progress and shape the agenda for future action on child poverty. A summary report on the summit is complete. I brought it to the Government last week and it has been published and is available online. The programme office is currently preparing its first annual report on progress achieved over the past 12 months and I expect the report to be published soon.

A key function of the programme office is to co-ordinate spending plans on child poverty and well-being for the annual budget. In budget 2025, we reaffirmed our commitment to reducing child poverty and improving child well-being. Budget measures which will alleviate child poverty include an increase in the weekly rates of child support payments by €4 for children aged under 12 and €8 for children aged over 12, bringing them to €50 per week and €62 per week, respectively. This is the largest ever increase applied to this payment. It was identified to me by the people working in the child poverty office and by engagement I had with a number of organisations as one of the most practical measures we could take to help to alleviate child poverty.

We will also provide a €400 lump sum for working family payment recipients, which is another payment that helps to alleviate child poverty; an increase of €60 in the working family payment income thresholds for all family sizes from January 2025; the school meals holiday hunger pilot project in summer 2025 and another pilot focused on holiday hunger in youth services; and the expansion of the Equal Start programme. Equal Start is important as it effectively recognises educational disadvantage in preschool education. It did not exist a year ago and we have now put more money into it to include enhanced nutritional supports, as well as funding for parent and community co-ordinators. Ten new youth services will also be targeted at those who are disadvantaged.

Additionally, children living in poverty will also benefit from universal supports, including the double child benefit payments in November and December; free public transport for children aged between five and eight years; hot school meals extended to all primary schools; schoolbooks for senior students in the free school scheme; and a waiver of the State examinations fee for the junior and leaving certificate for another year.

The programme office is compiling a full analysis of how these initiatives will have an impact on child poverty and enhance child well-being in 2025. This will be published in the coming weeks.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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More than 200 children either in State care or known to State care services have died since 2014. One fifth of them died by suicide, many more died of drug overdoses and 11 of those children were murdered. It is incredible that more than 5% of the children in State care or known to State care services have been murdered. Does the Taoiseach agree?

A national review panel that investigated these deaths had alarming things to say about the child and adolescent mental health services, CAMHS. On a number of occasions, CAMHS has refused to accept children referred by Tusla because it only accepts children with treatable or diagnosed mental illness and it also has a policy of refusing to treat children who use drugs and alcohol. These are not children who are addicted to drugs and alcohol, but those who use them. Some of these children died by suicide. There is something seriously wrong with the system. The Taoiseach will agree.

We will hear many TDs speak shortly about child protection and it will be highly charged and political, but it is incredible that 200 children known to or in State care have died in the past ten years. I believe that if many of them came from leafy suburbs or had parents who were well-to-do, had power and could influence debate, their cases would be far higher in the political priorities of the country. The fact is that these children do not have people to speak for them. They do not come from money or from a background of power. I urge the Taoiseach to take the issue of children in State care seriously.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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I congratulate the former workers of the Before 5 Family Centre in Churchfield and the parents whose children attended it. Between them, they have been successful in putting sufficient pressure on the Department of children to force the release of €300,000 to pay for the works needed for the centre to reopen in 2025. At the same time that people on the northside of Cork city are celebrating this win, it is widely recognised that this is a pre-election stunt by the Government and there is a justified cynicism about Government TDs who try to claim some credit.

Will the Taoiseach speak to the Minister and ensure that everything is done to get the money released, works done and the centre reopened as soon as possible?

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I wish to bring to the Taoiseach's attention the shocking case of a new social housing development, St. Germaine, in Ballybrack in my area. It is in the hands of Co-operative Housing Ireland, an AHB, and was built by a developer called Kavco. It was finished at the end of last year and there are 31 units with many families. I met people the other day and, while they were delighted that, after many years – sometimes as long as ten or 15 years – on the housing list, they had got their houses, they had contacted me to say that the apartment block was falling apart. I was shocked by what I saw. People had only moved in in the past three or six months, yet there was already damp rising up the walls everywhere, people had been told in some cases not to use the electrical systems because of rising damp and water ingress, and there were many other areas where it looked like no one had bothered finishing the work, for example, uneven surfaces and floors, water pouring into the car park and creating large pools there, etc. I could go on through the list. It is unbelievable. This block is just built.

The developer is nearly out of the one-year period after which it can walk away from all of this. Something has to be done about it, yet nothing has been so far. I ask that, as a matter of urgency, Co-operative Housing Ireland be contacted and we not allow the developer to walk away without doing the remediation works necessary to make that place as it should be.

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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One of the issues that is having the greatest negative impact on the well-being of children is the rising number of children who are forced to grow up in emergency accommodation and overcrowded hotel rooms, staying there for months if they are “lucky” or even for years. The scourge of child homelessness is worsening no matter how often we are told that the situation is going to get better, the plan will work and so on.

I will provide an example of what this looks like. It is a case I have raised with the Taoiseach previously. I have spoken about the serious health conditions facing the father of the family. The young daughter in the family also has serious health conditions and a range of significant mental health issues. The family has been on the council waiting list for approximately ten years and is renting somewhere, but the landlord is selling and the family is facing eviction next February.

I met the father last week. He told me they could not be made homeless. He cannot imagine how he will survive in emergency accommodation with his health situation, let alone his daughter, who suffers from OCD and is now facing the idea of her life being turned upside down, having to go to school somewhere else and living in a hotel. That they can be made homeless is unimaginable to them. The father told me last week that he had sent 400 emails on daft.ie. He received three responses, each of which said that the respective property was gone. He received nothing else.

This could have been a tenant in situ case. The council should have bought the property, but it pulled out at the last minute. Something needs to be done.

Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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The Taoiseach and I have spoken many times about autism services and the issues facing families. Recently, I met the All Abilities Action Alliance in Louth about school places. There are anomalies in the number of special needs classes that are available in Louth at primary and secondary levels. I have already submitted a couple of follow-up questions on this matter, but we need clarity. In secondary schools in particular, there is no capacity to deal with the level of need. Obviously, parents are applying to all classes. I have made the suggestion previously, including in my legislation, of a two-year run-in for families in this situation. This needs to happen.

Shelagh National School has builds planned, but it wants to ensure there is official contact from the Department on delivering them. De La Salle's issues were sorted in the short term, but the main issue is getting a permanent building. I spoke to the principal of St. Mary's recently. He spoke about his over-and-back with the Department and the NCSE. It has taken a significant amount of time. His school is at full capacity and has kids in mainstream classes, but we need to deliver a prefab for it.

This is about ensuring that we have the capacity and that the interaction is correct.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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I support the point raised by Deputy Boyd Barrett regarding the completion of what would be local authority houses in private estates. From my examination, the finishing leaves much to be desired. The houses were meant for social housing, be it on the local authority side or the approved housing body side.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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Yes.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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They are not up to the required standard or in keeping with the standard of the rest of the development. Within a very short space of time, they have started showing flaws such as leakages, dampness, poor plumbing, poor electrics, etc. The real tell-tale of any development is the finish in the bathrooms, where the tiling can clearly be at variance with the standard found in the rest of the estate. I ask that this be borne in mind with a view to ensure that the local authorities exert their authority.

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Tóibín for raising the important issue of the well-being, safety, protection, mental health needs and so on of children in State care. The broad point the Deputy makes is about the need for those of us who hold positions of authority to take an active interest in the lives of those who may find themselves without a voice within the system. On foot of what the Deputy has raised in the Dáil, I will specifically and directly raise with Tusla the issue of the 200 children who have died in State care over ten years and the issue of the interaction with CAMHS. I am happy to correspond with the Deputy and engage further on the issue. I thank him for raising it and giving those children a voice in the Dáil today.

Deputy Barry raised the campaign by parents and workers at the Before 5 Family Centre, Churchfield, and the fact that €300,000 had been approved to pay for the works required to reopen the centre next year. On the one hand, if the money had not been allocated, the Deputy would rightly have said that that was a problem, but when the money is allocated, he is saying there is a cynicism to it. I assure him there is not. We are very determined to listen to parents and workers in this sector and I am pleased that that funding was able to be provided, but I hear the Deputy’s plea and request to make sure that the works are carried out speedily, the money is released speedily and there are no delays in that regard. I will speak directly to the Minister, Deputy O’Gorman, on the Deputy’s behalf and tell him the Deputy raised it in the Dáil today and asked that the works happen.

I thank Deputy Boyd Barrett and my colleague, Deputy Durkan, for raising their issues. Deputy Boyd Barrett specifically raised the issue of the housing development in Ballybrack. I will certainly ensure it is raised. I happened to be at the opening of some housing and met some of the families in my own constituency very recently who had just received housing through that approved housing body. I must say I was impressed on that occasion – this was in Blessington – with the homes I saw, but I take very seriously what the Deputy said about the excitement that someone feels when getting a new home and the relief after years of waiting only to then find problems with damp, electrics and perhaps more. I will ask the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, to directly raise that with the approved housing body and, perhaps, with Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and to correspond with the Deputy on it.

Deputy Durkan brought us to a broader point in terms of standards and finishes in social houses. Let us be very clear, in that they should all be finished to the exact same standard as any other home. The State, on behalf of the people of Ireland, is spending a lot of money in this space. The Deputy’s request for the local authorities to exert authority and oversight in that regard is well made and one that I will pass on to the Minister for housing as well.

Without knowing the details of that extremely difficult situation, but one I believe Deputy Murphy has mentioned to me before, involving the father who was seriously ill and his daughter who has a number of serious medical conditions, would the Deputy like me to look at the specifics of the case and see if anything can be done through the local authority?

We put the tenant in situscheme in place for such scenarios. I am happy to take the details from the Deputy and help in any way I can.

Turning to Deputy Ó Murchú, I understand the NCSE is currently carrying out a whole review of special school and special class capacity. I take the point that where there is a school willing and wanting to help and assist, we should not be putting any hurdles in its space at a time when we need more capacity. I am happy to engage with the Deputy further.