Parliamentary questions

1894. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will initiate an independent operational and financial review of Tusla in light of its reported €68 million budget overrun and a 30% year-on-year increase in demand for services; and if she will outline how her Department intends to ensure continuity of support for vulnerable children and families during this …

1895. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if Budget 2026 will include targeted investment to reduce childcare costs, given recent reports showing that average childcare payments now exceed mortgage repayments in most urban areas; and the projected fiscal cost of implementing a universal childcare cap or subsidy model. [44937/25]

1896. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will outline, in the context of Budget 2026, whether the proposed additional investment in childcare will be directed solely towards core funding for providers or whether it will also include an increase to the standard national childcare scheme subsidy rate, currently set at €2.14 per hour; and if he will cl…

1897. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to confirm Tusla’s projected budget overrun for 2025; to provide a breakdown of the reported €67.8million overspend across core service categories, such as separated children seeking international protection, fostering, residential care, and legal representation; and to state whether she intends to appoint an indepen…

1898. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will include in the 2026-2027 core funding contract, new rules to regulate childcare deposits that would stipulate a maximum deposit equivalent to no more than two weeks’ fees at the time of booking, that the balance of the standard deposit (maximum of up to one month’s fees) would be collected no earlier…

1899. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has given consideration to providing additional maternity, paternity or parents leave and benefit to parents who have twins or triplets, considering the additional caring responsibilities that these parents experience; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45055/25]

1900. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason public sector workers face discrimination and inequalities in terms of paid surrogacy leave in comparison with their private sector counterparts; and if she will make a statement on the matter (details supplied). [45084/25]

1901. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the action that will be taken to tackle the core funding scheme for childcare being so dysfunctional (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45095/25]

1902. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare services that exited or declined core funding by county and service type in 2025 to date; the number of enrolled children affected; and the reasons recorded by her Department or local city/county childcare committees (details supplied). [45122/25]

1903. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of applications under the 2024/2025 fee increase assessment process; the number of approvals and refusals; the median and interquartile range of approved increases; and the average impact on parents net weekly fees after NCS subsidies. [45123/25]

1904. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality following implementation of the September 2025 fee cap, if she will provide details of the maximum capped fees by hours band including the €295 week cap for 40–50 hours; the compliance and enforcement regime; the expected coverage share of services and children; and any sanctions for breach (details supplied). [45124…

1905. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to publish modelling by decile of household income and typical hours of parents net costs in September 2025 combining the new caps with NCS universal that is €2.14/hour up to 45 hours; and income-assessed subsidies up to €5.10/hour (details supplied). [45125/25]

1906. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the additional core funding provision being made to offset the sectoral pay floor increase to €15 an hour and related grade uplifts; and to provide her Department’s estimate of the marginal cost per full-time place. [45126/25]

1907. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide details of the quarterly dashboards showing average gross fees by county and care type; the average net fees after subsidy and participation rates in core funding, drawing on the Pobal Early Years Data Warehouse. [45127/25]

1908. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if Health Service Executive disability services in the Dublin north city & west (IHA DNCW) area can receive an additional allocation of multi disciplinary staff for CDNTs in 2025, in view of the increase of 12 students at a school (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45137/25]

1909. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in view of the reported 16,593 children awaiting completion of disability assessments, if she will provide a breakdown of the number of children awaiting an initial assessment of need under the Disability Act 2005, and the subsequent follow-up assessments, by CHO area, at the end of quarter 2 2025; the average and lo…

1910. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the commitments or guarantees that will be put in place for community or voluntary providers of new residential care beds that the HSE will take up those beds thus allowing the community or voluntary provider make the necessary upfront investment in providing new beds. [45166/25]

1911. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the funding pressure point that a disability organisation (details supplied) is facing in September 2025; the measures being taken to address this deficit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45167/25]

1912. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the plans in place to increase capacity for residential care outlined in the NASS database for 2000 individuals with immediate need and for 1200 individuals misplaced in nursing homes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45168/25]

1913. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide a list of all unused properties, lands and buildings, under the ownership or control of her Department within County Kerry; the length of time they have been idle; the plans in place, if any, for future use; if these unused properties, lands and buildings can be used for affordable and social housing an…

1914. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to award optimum core funding of €240,000 for all 121 family resource centres, to enable each centre to have three core staff on public sector aligned scales plus operating costs; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45196/25]

1915. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to award funding to family resource centres to allow them to expand their counselling and wraparound supports, through shared funding and implementation of the Roadmap for Therapeutic Governance. [45197/25]

1916. Deputy Pat Buckley asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to develop and introduce a dedicated capital funding stream for family resource centres. [45198/25]

1917. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if a person (details supplied) can access psychological services to get an essential psychological report for entry into post primary education in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45297/25]

1918. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in light of the obligations under Article 8 of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Anti-Money Laundering Directive, which require the verification of age and legal guardianship for children accessing certain digital services and financial platforms, the role the Department is playing to ensure th…