2025-11-12

82. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on her engagements with Tusla regarding well-being checks of closed cases; if she has received a progress report or interim report from the agency; and if she will set out the allocated additional resources she has provided Tusla to enhance its capacity to complete the work in a timely manner. [61877/25]

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter, which is of the deepest concern to everybody, both in the Government and across the House. All of us have been greatly saddened by recent cases that have been highlighted. On the questions that the Deputy raised, Tusla has completed its work on the well-being check. This will be overseen by a steering group, which will be entirely independent of Tusla. The purpose of the well-being welfare check is to proactively test and strengthen the current safety net the State provides for children's welfare and protection and to provide assurances about the welfare of vulnerable children. The well-being welfare check is going to focus on cases that were closed to child protection services during the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns and relates to cases where there has been no further contact with the child since the cases were closed. Often, it is a real positive when a case can be closed. On other occasions, a case can be reopened. The check will be overseen by an independent steering group chaired by Ms Tanya Ward, the CEO of the Children's Rights Alliance. I can confirm to Deputy Farrelly that phase 1 of the project is under way and that a number of steps have been taken. The membership of the steering group is now finalised and includes representatives from my Department and the Departments of Social Protection; Health; Education and Youth; and Justice, Home Affairs and Migration; along with representatives from the HSE; the Central Statistics Office; Tusla and Barnardos and an independent social work expert. Engagements have taken place with other Government Departments to explore opportunities for appropriate data-sharing use to establish where the children encompassed by this review are currently or recently known to a relevant State service or State-funded service. A national lead has been appointed and a well-being check project team manager has also been appointed. A digital case management system is in place to support the work of the teams.

I think we all, as the Minister rightly says, share in the concerns about the tragic cases that have unfolded in this State in recent months and years. I am really concerned with the Minister's reply. How do we think it is possible for Tusla to conduct a well-being or welfare check with 42,000 children by March of next year? We have not seen the methodology for those checks. I ask the Minister to publish what those checks will look like. Tusla has more administrators than social care workers. It has more managers than family support workers. The questions that arise for me are as follows: who will be doing those checks? How many children have been participating in those checks so far? The Minister said that phase 1 is under way. How much has been allocated by the Department for Tusla to do this? In a year when it received 100,000 referrals, how is it possible within three or four months for Tusla to speak with 42,000 children? Is it not time to call this what it is? It is a proof-of-existence check; it is not a welfare check.

The Deputy asked about my engagement with this. I have met with the chair of the independent steering group. It is important to say that this is independent of Tusla. It is important that the steering group be independent of Tusla. I have met with the chair and will do so again in advance of the commencement of phase 2 of the project. I have secured additional funding in the Estimates for next year to assist with the implementation of the check. Funding of €3.2 million has been secured and is being allocated to cover the period of the review, and this funding includes provision for the additional administrative supports required. I and my officials continue to engage with Tusla on the well-being check. As Minister, I am committed to making our child protection system as robust as it possibly can be. I am shortly bringing forward a Bill to update and modernise the Child Care Act, which provides the foundation for child protection and welfare services in the State. This will strengthen the child protection legal framework and increase the powers available to Tusla. I also intend to bring forward amendments via the child care Bill 2025 to place the national review panel on a statutory footing. This will further enhance the work of the national review panel, as well as strengthening its independence and its ability to compel information and witnesses in respect of all reviews that it undertakes. While the recent tragic events are distressing for all - there is absolutely no doubt about that, particularly for all those who know and love the children involved - they serve as a reminder that safeguarding children is a collective duty across all State bodies.

I want to stay focused. I thank the Minister for providing some information regarding the costs. That works out at approximately €76 per child. If we are looking at 42,000 children, that is what has been allocated. Will each child be spoken to or will a member of their family be spoken to? Kate Duggan told us in committee that the first phase of this will be an automated check to see if children are enrolled in school or services. Is that it? Is that when we deem that the welfare of a child is okay? Given that 100,000 children will be referred to Tusla this year, is it not fair to say that it is a knee-jerk reaction to ask Tusla to conduct a review of 42,000 children? What happens if 1% of those children need follow-on services? Never mind 10%; if the figure is 1%, that is 4,500 children. The organisation is not in a position to offer any sort of follow-up services because it is already working with a huge number of children and young people in crisis. This week I asked Tusla to provide the details of how many children and young people are in its care that it cannot verify the age of. The organisation could not tell me what those statistics are. That is an area of Tusla that needs resourcing. My real concern, from a place of real sincerity, is that what we are calling a welfare check will not be one. We will not know about the welfare of these children and young people. We might know they are there. We might know that they exist, but that simply is not enough. If we are going to do it, we need to do it meaningfully. We need to accept it is not going to be done by March. If we do this right, chances are it would not even be done by March of the following year. If the Minister is going to do this, I implore her to do it right.

I absolutely do not in any way question Deputy Farrelly's sincerity. Equally, I have to say this is not "a knee-jerk reaction". This is an important body of work. There is concern around cases that would have closed during the Covid-19 pandemic, notwithstanding that it can be such a positive when a case is closed by Tusla. It can be a really positive outcome. I am very conscious that many cases are reopened again and again; that is the nature of the work. It is important that we take the time to do this work. A figure of €3.2 million has been made available to do it. Indeed, Tusla in general received a significant uplift in the recent budget. As a matter of fact, Tusla received an increase of more than 50% between 2020 and 2025 in terms of its budget, with a further 14% uplift again this year. It is quite significant and I do not regret one single penny of it. The welfare of children is at the heart of all of this. I am confident that the independent chair is a person of particular and significant standing in terms of child welfare. I am very confident of her independence in the chair. The work that needs to be done will be done effectively for the benefit of the children.