Child and Family Agency

314. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any independent or externally commissioned value-for-money review has been conducted on the use of private providers for residential childcare placements funded by Tusla since 2020; if so, to provide the dates, authors, scope and key findings of each review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [275…

316. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the outcome measures used at Departmental level to assess the effectiveness of privately delivered residential childcare placements funded by Tusla; whether such outcome measures are formally linked to funding allocations or contract renewals; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27506/26]

317. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department requires Tusla to assess the underlying cost structures, including profit margins, of private providers of residential childcare placements as part of value-for-money considerations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27507/26]

318. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any internal audit, external audit, or examination by the Comptroller and Auditor General has been carried out on the cost-effectiveness or value-for-money of private childcare placements funded by Tusla since 2020; if so, to provide details and findings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27508/…

319. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of private providers contracted to deliver residential childcare placements funded by Tusla; the proportion of total placements accounted for by the five largest providers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27509/26]

320. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the policy basis on which pricing for private residential childcare placements is set by Tusla, including whether pricing is benchmarked against international comparators or independently validated cost models; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27510/26]

321. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total additional Exchequer funding approved to support increases in rates paid to private providers of residential childcare and foster care placements in each of the years 2023 to 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27511/26]

322. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has considered publishing summary value-for-money assessments or aggregated cost data relating to private childcare placements funded by Tusla, in the interest of transparency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27512/26]

328. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason the director of special care in Tusla has been removed from their post, the grounds for this removal; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27675/26]

2520. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of service level agreements that Tusla has ended with family resource centres and similar organisations; the number of redundancies arising from these decisions as part of its reform programme; and the plans in place in each case to either continue the services previously provided (such as therapy) in an a…

2528. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if a multi-agency approach involving Tusla, a school and the Garda Youth Diversion Programme could assist a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25887/26]

2562. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason a letter to travel is required in respect of children in State care by Tusla; the reason there is not the same right for all children in care or not to travel the island of Ireland; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26525/26]

411. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the current levels of staffing within Tusla; the current number of vacant positions; the total target workforce; and details of any estimate as to required staffing level by the Courts Services. [23234/26]

531. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Education and Youth the cost of Tusla's new national school attendance advertising campaign. [22239/26]

814. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason Tusla is withdrawing a specialist service in Waterford/Wexford (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21700/26]

416. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total annual expenditure by Tusla on placements purchased from privately operated children’s residential centres in each of the years 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024; the total expenditure on all residential care placements in those years; and the percentage share represented by private placements in each year, in…

417. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department, or Tusla, has conducted any analysis of the cost differential between privately operated residential placements and placements within Tusla-operated centres; and if she will provide the average weekly cost per placement under each model. [21241/26]

418. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla has set any strategic target to reduce reliance on privately operated children’s residential placements, given that approximately 73% of placements were provided by private operators in 2024. [21242/26]

419. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department, or Tusla, has engaged with the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General regarding the expenditure incurred on privately operated children’s residential care placements; whether the Comptroller and Auditor General has examined or intends to examine the governance, procurement arrangements o…

420. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department, or Tusla, has conducted any value-for-money or cost-effectiveness analysis comparing privately operated residential care placements with placements within Tusla-operated residential centres; and whether any such analysis has been provided to the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General. [2…

1517. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the actions taken to date on the back of the HIQA report into Tusla North Dublin on non-compliance with each standard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18778/26]

1518. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of judgments as ‘Not Compliant’ made by HIQA into all Tusla run services as reported for inspections carried out in 2024 and 2025; and the number of these ‘Not Compliant’ judgments referred to staff in positions they were not fully qualified and/or trained for. [18783/26]

1558. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the changes being made, as part of Tusla reform of structures to access to therapies/professional support services in local community centres for children in care and foster care, such as a facility (details supplied); the reason these supports are being removed; what they are being replaced with for these vulnera…

1602. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if additional funding will be provided to Tusla in order that an organisation (details supplied) who offer support and guidance to families involved in fostering in Tipperary can operate going forward; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [20162/26]

1611. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she will introduce mandatory autism and neurodiversity training requirements for Tusla social workers involved in child protection, family support and care proceedings. [20353/26]