Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1358.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the public money paid to a company (details supplied); his views on the fact that the company is still operating despite the negligent practices regarding the safety and welfare of children that have been reported.[34370/24]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1359.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to explain how Tusla’s governance and oversight was not up to standard with regard to a company (details supplied), considering how Tusla were previously caught out by similar private providers in the special emergency accommodation sector with the same issues regarding Garda vetting.[34371/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1358 and 1359 together.

My Department and Tusla continue to take the issue of non-compliance with Garda vetting requirements by commissioned services very seriously and are committed to ensuring ongoing review of compliance by these services. Tusla has oversight and governance measures in place for all commissioned services.

Tusla ensures that all commissioned services are operating in compliance with the National Vetting Bureau (Children and vulnerable persons) Acts 2012. Through the service level agreements between Tusla and commissioned services, compliance with Garda vetting and child safeguarding statements is reviewed and monitored on an ongoing basis. When this issue arose, Tusla advised my Department that it referred the organisation in question to its Child Safeguarding Statement Compliance Unit for review and to ensure that the organisations Child Safeguarding Statement was compliant with the requirements of the Children First Act 2015.

While Tusla does not comment on individual or specific external service providers, it’s important to note that under Children First, supervision/access centres are classified as a ‘relevant service’ as they provide care and supervision of children whilst in the centre. Therefore, any such service providers working with Tusla are required to have a Child Safeguarding Statement and relevant policies and procedures for reporting child protection and welfare concerns.

Tusla commissions over 660 Section 56 organisations to provide critical support services to children and families across the country. As part of the commissioning process, providers are required to sign a service level agreement which outlines the governance systems, processes, and standards to ensure an appropriate service for the children they work with.

In a small number of cases, Tusla uses external private providers, such as supervision/access centres, often on direction of the Court. Where Tusla engages such services, the conditions to be met are outlined to ensure they are compliant with Tusla standards. Therefore, any such service providers are required to have a Child Safeguarding Statement and relevant policies and procedures, including Garda vetting.

Where Tusla becomes aware of a situation such as that outlined, Tusla would work closely with the provider to assure itself that the appropriate governance systems and processes are in place while children are availing of the service. If this cannot be assured, Tusla may put in place additional safety mechanisms or discontinue use of the service until assurances could be provided.

As previously mentioned, Tusla is not in a position to comment on individual or specific external service providers, but Tusla has confirmed that it ceased using the services of this organisation in February 2024.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Improving access to quality and affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority of Government.

My Department has in place a range of supports and funding schemes to support the delivery of early learning and childcare places but services are independently operated, either by community not-for-profit or by private for-profit providers.

This year, I established a Supply Management Unit within the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare division of my Department. A key part of the Supply Management Unit’s remit is to develop a planning function for monitoring, analysing and forecasting of the supply and demand - akin to the Forward Planning Unit in the Department of Education.

This unit is currently undertaking a forward planning project to identify the quantum and volume of different types of early learning and childcare places across the country, whether or not those places are occupied and how that aligns with the numbers of children in the corresponding age cohorts at local area level.

Data available to my Department shows that the level of capacity in the sector has risen substantially year-on-year between 2022 and 2023. However, there is also evidence that demand for places is increasing and, for certain cohorts and in certain areas, outstripping supply. This is partly driven by the significant improvements in affordability that have been achieved in recent years and I acknowledge that some families experience challenges in accessing places, particularly for younger children.

The Supply Management Unit will oversee the administration of capital investment under the National Development Plan, through the Building Blocks Capacity Grant. The primary focus of the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Schemes is to increase capacity in the 1-3 year old, pre-ECCE, age range for full day or part-time care. Appraisal of applications for this scheme considers the supply and demand in the area around the proposed projects and seeks to prioritise funding for areas with the biggest supply/demand mismatch. I hope to announce details of the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme in the coming weeks.

My Department is currently engaging with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to examine and review the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings with a view to updating them.

In addition, under the National Action Plan for Childminding, I have committed to opening up access to the National Childcare Scheme to parents who use childminders following the extension of regulation to childminders. This will increase the numbers of funded and regulated early learning and childcare places available.

In individual cases where parents are having difficulty finding a suitable early learning and childcare place, the local city or county childcare committee may be able to assist in identifying vacant places.