Single agency for child protection

The Child and Family Agency has been established following the approval of legislation by the Oireachtas. The agency, which is the largest public body in the State, is responsible for child welfare and protection services (including family support), inspection of pre-school facilities, responses to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, and community-based psychological welfare services for children and families.

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald described the establishment of the agency as “a concerted response to critical systemic failures in delivering services to vulnerable children” which also “presented the opportunity to further reform how services to children and families can be delivered into the future.”

It has around 4,000 staff and an operational budget of €600 million, and brings child protection services into one public body for the first time in the history of the State. The Minister will be able to determine specific operational priorities, in line with government objectives.

The Children’s Rights Alliance has questioned whether staffing is adequate but the agency’s Chair, Norah Gibbons, has agreed to conduct a review. Gibbons is a social worker by background and the Chief Executive, Gordon Jeyes, was previously the HSE’s National Director for Children and Families.