Parliamentary questions

426. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in respect of special emergency arrangements operating under Section 59(a) of the Child Care Act 1991, the number currently so designated; whether the Health Information and Quality Authority has been notified of each; and the number inspected by the Authority in 2025 and to date in 2026. [50656/26]

427. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1639 of 9 June 2026, whether her Department will direct Tusla to centrally record and analyse the proportion of Emergency Care Order applications that progress to Interim Care Orders, Care Orders or Supervision Orders; and the reasons this information is not currently collated, gi…

428. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1640 of 9 June 2026, to confirm whether any key performance indicator, governance metric or audit measure of any kind exists in respect of the use of Emergency Care Orders under Section 13 of the Child Care Act 1991; and if none exists, whether she will direct that such oversight …

429. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No's. 972 and 973 of 26 May 2026, to set out the criteria applied by the national review panel in deciding whether a referral concerning the death of a child known to Tusla proceeds to a formal review; and whether these criteria are published. [50660/26]

430. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether learning is formally identified, recorded and acted upon in cases concerning the death of a child known to Tusla which do not proceed to a formal review by the national review panel; and the mechanism by which this is done. [50661/26]

431. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of referrals concerning the deaths of children known to Tusla for which a decision on formal review remains pending, by year from 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; and the average time taken to reach a decision on whether to proceed to a formal review. [50662/26]

432. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 876 of 19 May 2026, whether Tusla will commence collection of data on the number of children under one year of age subject to an emergency care order who are subsequently returned to parental care; and the timeframe for same. [50663/26]

433. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 499 of 28 May 2026, whether the absence of a national guidance, benchmark or threshold framework governing emergency care order applications under section 13 of the Child Care Act 1991 has been assessed as a risk; and whether her Department intends to develop such a framework. [50…

434. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 497 of 28 May 2026, whether Tusla will commence collation of the number of children taken to safety under section 12 of the Child Care Act 1991, broken down by Tusla area; and whether her Department will engage with An Garda Síochána to ensure these removals are centrally recorded…

435. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 314 of 15 April 2026, to commission an independent, externally conducted value-for-money review of expenditure on private residential childcare placements; and if not, the reason. [50666/26]

436. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1016 of 26 May 2026, the average cost of a State-operated residential childcare placement and of a privately operated residential childcare placement; or to confirm that no comparative cost analysis between the two is conducted. [50667/26]

437. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 490 of 23 April 2026, the average annual cost per child of a private residential childcare placement in each year from 2020 to 2026, in tabular form. [50668/26]

438. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to the reply to Parliamentary Question No. 1018 of 26 May 2026, whether a formal assessment of the risks arising from market concentration and dependency on a small number of private residential childcare providers has been carried out; and whether such risk is recorded on the Tusla corporate risk register. [5…

439. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 492 of 28 May 2026, whether she will commit to establishing a longitudinal outcome tracker for care-experienced young adults covering housing, education, employment, mental health and addiction; and the expected publication date of outputs from the Care Experiences Programme. [506…

440. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to Parliamentary Question No 488 of 28 May 2026, whether Tusla will commence central collation of the number of young people whose aftercare supports cease at 21 years-of-age and the number who subsequently re-engage with services. [50671/26]

441. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 841 of 19 May 2026, the average duration of a special emergency arrangement placement for mainstream children in each year since 2022; and the number of such placements that were in unregistered settings. [50771/26]

233. Deputy Ann Graves asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the eligibility criteria for YAPAbility services; if Tusla's involvement is effectively becoming a prerequisite for access to certain family support services; the supports that exist for disabled children with significant needs who do not meet child protection thresholds; the preventative and intensive community-based …

234. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children in residential disability services who are currently placed more than 50km and more than 100km from their family home, broken down by HSE Health Region, IHA and county of origin; whether the +100km cohort is included within, or counted separately from, the +50km cohort in each regional return; a…

235. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason the HSE was unable to provide complete and usable national distance data for children in residential disability services, including the absence of apparent returns for HSE west and north-west, the apparent absence of north Dublin, Meath and Louth from the HSE Dublin and north-east return, and the absence of…

236. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the plan that is in place to reduce the number of disabled children placed far from home in residential care; whether the HSE has identified the local residential, respite, behavioural support, therapy, home support and family support capacity required to keep children at home or close to home; whether targets and tim…

237. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children’s residential disability placements currently in place, broken down by provider type, including HSE direct provision, Section 38 providers, Section 39 providers, private for-profit providers, and any other provider category; the number and percentage of the total 300 children’s residential disab…

238. Deputy Liam Quaide asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the longest distance from family home recorded for a child in residential disability services in each HSE Health Region and IHA; the county of origin and county of placement in each case; whether each placement is funded solely by disability services or co-funded with Tusla or mental health services; the length of tim…

239. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will help resolve an issue experienced by a childcare business (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49945/26]

240. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the criteria used by Tusla's children's residential services national placement team to select a named provider for an individual child once that provider is on the approved panel; whether this selection is recorded, audited, or subject to an independent oversight; the number of residential placements made in 2025 whe…

241. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total number of private residential childcare placements in 2025 and to date in 2026; where the cost exceeded the standard or indicative rate set by Tusla; and the aggregate additional cost approved in each year. [49957/26]