Questions

777. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla intends to establish a national reporting framework identifying the principal causes of delays in permanency planning for children in care, including court delays, placement shortages, staffing vacancies, assessment backlogs and lack of therapeutic services; the timeline for implementation; and if she will make a statement …

778. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether for procurement spend, a purchase order can be raised within her Department's financial management systems without reference to a contract, framework agreement, procurement process or other authorising arrangement; if so, the circumstances in which this may occur; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45158/26]

779. Deputy Albert Dolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether an invoice can be paid by her Department without an associated purchase order having first been raised; if so, the circumstances in which this may occur; the number and value of payments made during quarter one of 2026 which were not associated with a purchase order; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45176/26]

780. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the actions are being taken to address difficulties in securing childcare places under the NCS sponsorship scheme; if funding levels have been reviewed; whether incentives for providers to accept sponsored children are being considered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45226/26]

781. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the funding allocated to CDNT within CHO7 in 2025 and 2026; and the estimated funding required to eliminate waiting lists currently within this CDNT. [45242/26]

782. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on the Programme for Government commitment to expand the provision for newborns and their parents of a Baby Bundle; to confirm if a cost review has been carried out; and if there are plans to roll-out an expanded version of the scheme nationwide; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45272/26]

783. Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will commit to investment to deliver the long promised community neurorehabilitation team for the South East, given the areas of the South East that come under HSE Integrated Healthcare Areas of Waterford/Wexford and Carlow/Kilkenny/South Tipperary remain the only region of the country which has not received funding to date to s…

784. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department will establish a national reporting framework for permanency outcomes for children in State care, including reunification, adoption, guardianship and long-term foster care outcomes; whether annual national reporting will be introduced on these outcomes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45322/26]

785. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla maintains a national record of the permanency objective assigned to each child in care; if not, whether she will direct Tusla to develop such a dataset; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45323/26]

786. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether the Tusla Board and its Audit and Risk Committee will be required to receive regular reports on care drift, placement instability, permanency outcomes and the number of children remaining in care for more than two, five and ten years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45324/26]

787. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has an any way to identify which Parliamentary Questions are AI generated; and the amount it costs, on average, to answer a Parliamentary Question. [45363/26]

788. Deputy George Lawlor asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of WTE clinical psychologists posts filled within Wexford CDNT as of 8 June 2026; if she will provide the same figures as of 30 June 2023, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45369/26]

789. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her proposals to address the issue of children born in January losing out on ECCE years due to the current age cut off point (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45383/26]

790. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if consideration is being given to putting the entitlement to an ECCE place on a statutory footing; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45393/26]

791. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if consideration is being given to amending the rules around entry to ECCE schemes to permit greater flexibility around age of entry, on foot of the Independent Review of the ECCE programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45394/26]

792. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will follow through on its threat to withdraw NCS and ECCE for services that have left the core funding system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45395/26]

793. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the process by which the 72 planned residential beds for intellectual disability will be allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45426/26]

794. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if there is a specific archaeological report for Bessborough in the archive of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry held by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45447/26]

795. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will produce the index to the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry archive and make it publicly available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45448/26]

796. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of special care beds available to Tusla per month in the past 24 months, per location, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45492/26]

797. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of social work vacancies currently in Tusla as broken down in each role/ job title. [45493/26]

798. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans to initiate a periodic critical review of Tusla; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45494/26]

799. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to urgently provide childcare facilities for children with special needs in County Kerry; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45579/26]

800. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide a breakdown, by individual early learning and care and school-age childcare services, of the total core funding payments made under the scheme in year three and year four, showing the amount received by each service in each year respectively; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45729/26]

801. Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of persons who have received support through personal budget arrangements and personal managed funds; the total number of hours provided under those arrangements, in each of the past three years and to date in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45775/26]