Parliamentary questions

915. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide a list of all capital projects, including early years, childcare and disability infrastructure projects, delivered under the remit of her Department, and bodies under its aegis, which have been completed on time and within budget in Fingal in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if sh…

916. Deputy Micheál Carrigy asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide a list of all capital projects, including early years, childcare and disability infrastructure projects, delivered under the remit of her Department, and bodies under its aegis, which have been completed on time and within budget in Longford in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and …

917. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the average annual cost per child of a private residential care placement in 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026; and if she will provide the minimum, maximum and median cost per placement under current contractual arrangements. [34137/26]

918. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to set out the standardised national pricing bands or cost ceilings applied to private residential childcare placements under the current 2025-2028 contract; and the methodology used to determine those rates. [34138/26]

919. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla publishes or internally maintains benchmark rates for private residential care placements; if so, to provide details; and if not, the basis on which value for money is assessed in the absence of such benchmarks. [34139/26]

920. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla requires private providers of residential childcare placements to disclose cost breakdowns, including staffing, overheads, property, and profit margins, as part of the tendering or contracting process; and if so, to provide details of same. [34140/26]

921. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any cap, limit or oversight mechanism exists in respect of profit margins earned by private providers of residential childcare placements funded by the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34141/26]

922. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any comparative cost analysis has been undertaken between Tusla-operated residential care placements and privately operated placements; if so, to provide the findings; and if not, whether such analysis will be undertaken. [34142/26]

923. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the cost levels set in the 2024 tender process were benchmarked against other jurisdictions, including the United Kingdom; and if so, to provide details of such benchmarking exercise. [34143/26]

924. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the average weekly and annual cost per child of Special Emergency Arrangements in 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026; and the total expenditure on such arrangements in each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34144/26]

925. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to quantify the savings achieved following the introduction of the Special Emergency Arrangement rate card in December 2023; and the methodology used to calculate such savings. [34145/26]

926. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the proportion of children in residential care currently placed in privately operated facilities; and the trend in such placements over the past five years. [34146/26]

927. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether time-to-permanency is tracked as a formal key performance indicator at national level by her Department or by Tusla; and if not, the way in which system performance is measured in the absence of outcome-based metrics. [34159/26]

928. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently in State care who have been in care for more than two years; more than five years; and more than ten years, and whether these duration cohorts are subject to any specific policy intervention or review mechanism. [34160/26]

929. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether responsibility for setting national policy on time-to-permanency outcomes for children in care rests with her Department; and if so, the policy framework currently governs same. [34161/26]

930. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has undertaken any comparative analysis with other jurisdictions regarding time-to-permanency targets or standards in child protection systems; and if so, to provide details and findings. [34162/26]

931. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether prolonged duration in State care without a permanency outcome is recognised within national policy as a risk factor for adverse long-term outcomes for children; and the measures in place to mitigate such risk. [34163/26]

932. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether there is a requirement for periodic formal review at national level of cases where a child has been in State care for more than five years; and if so, the governance arrangements underpinning such reviews. [34164/26]

933. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans in regard to the continued sealing of State records relating to mother and baby homes, and denying survivors and families access to the truth; if she will investigate and excavate burial sites where children are believed to be buried, unseal institutional records and provide survivors and families access …

934. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the action being taken to address issues raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34179/26]

935. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the staff-to-child ratio and average length of stay in private versus statutory residential centres operated or funded by Tusla; the number of children that are currently on a waiting list for a residential care placement; the average waiting time; the procurement or tendering process governs the awarding of contracts…

936. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether individual residential childcare placements procured from the approved panel are subject to a secondary competitive process between providers; and if not, the basis on which a provider is selected in each case [34218/26]

937. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to set out the allocation mechanism used by Tusla when assigning residential childcare placements from the approved panel, including whether a ranking system, rotation system, or mini-competition process is applied. [34219/26]

938. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether standardised national pricing frameworks, cost ceilings, or maximum weekly rates apply to private residential childcare placements procured through the panel; and if so, to provide details [34220/26]

939. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the weighting applied to price, quality, and other criteria in the original tender process used to establish the residential childcare provider panel. [34221/26]