Parliamentary questions

416. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total expenditure by Tusla on placements purchased from private children's residential centres; the total expenditure on all residential care placements; and the percentage share represented by private placements, in each year from 2020 to 2026; and if figures for years prior to 2024 cannot be provided, the reason…

417. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the absence, to date, of a completed centralised system for tracking the implementation of National Review Panel recommendations has been entered on the Tusla Corporate Risk Register; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50645/26]

418. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1082 of 12 May 2026, whether any independent value-for-money audit, as distinct from the bi-annual contract reviews referenced in that reply, has been conducted into private residential childcare placements since 2020; if so, to publish the findings; and if not, whether she will c…

419. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1587 of 9 June 2026, given the confirmation that Tusla maintains no key performance indicator for time-to-permanency, whether her Department has assessed the absence of such an indicator as a governance or child-welfare risk; whether this absence is recorded on any Tusla or Depart…

420. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 961 of 26 May 2026, if she will commit to the introduction of a national key performance indicator, benchmark or target timeframe for the achievement of permanency outcomes for children in care; the timeframe for its introduction; and if not, the reasons therefor. [50650/26]

421. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number and proportion of children in the care of the State for periods of five years or more, and ten years or more, respectively, as of the latest available date; whether her Department monitors the size of this cohort as an indicator of care drift; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50651/26]

422. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 474 of 14 May 2026, to confirm whether the Tusla Board receives any aggregate metric relating to time-to-permanency, placement drift, placement instability or repeat care episodes; and if no such metric is reported to the Board, whether she will direct that Board-level reporting o…

423. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1604 of 9 June 2026, in which it was stated that the number of children who have experienced more than five placement changes is not centrally collated, whether Tusla measures placement stability by any national metric; whether her Department will direct that data on placement cha…

424. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1546 of 9 June 2026, which did not provide the information sought, the number of children who remained in a special emergency arrangement for periods exceeding three, six, and 12 months respectively, in each of the years 2022 to 2025; and if the data is not held in that form, to s…

425. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently in a special emergency arrangement for longer than the 45-day maximum provided for in State policy; the longest single current duration; and in each such case whether the placement has been registered as a children's residential centre, has ceased operating, or has been designated to o…

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]