Results 1-20 of 124 for going forward speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Birth Information and Tracing Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (9 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...has developed from heads of Bill. Changes were made between the heads of Bill and the introduction of this draft legislation. Since the publication of the draft legislation, I have brought forward a set of important amendments, which have been agreed by this committee. In the context of the significant number of amendments that we discussed, I have agreed to go back to the Office of the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services (2 Jun 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I agree with the Deputy. I do not want to let this opportunity go by without referencing the young adult travel card that the Government has introduced, which will benefit young people between the ages of 19 and 23. This was an initiative brought forward by Comhairle na nÓg to me. I and Comhairle approached the Minister, Deputy Ryan, and got the funding for that, and it applies as of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Children in Care (25 Apr 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As of the end of January 2023 approximately 90% of children in care were being cared for by foster carers. While this record compares favourably internationally, I am aware that there is an ongoing difficulty in maintaining the number of foster carers in Ireland in line with demand for these placements. Additionally I am aware of concerns raised by stakeholders in respect of the basic...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (7 Jul 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...come this September. That is important because we want core funding to be in a position to deliver additional places. The Deputy is correct that availability is an issue. Core funding will go some way to improving the availability of services, but we also need to look to the capital programme that my Department is bringing forward. We received funding of €70 million under the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Direct Provision System (2 Jun 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy's last comment is certainly not one I have put forward and I do not think it is one anyone in government has put it forward either. However, she is absolutely right in terms of the response to the need to accommodate people seeking international protection. It has to be seen in the context of the wider response to the housing crisis. It is also important that we have a clear...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I see the successor strategy to Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures as being hugely important. There is always the decision of whether to go narrow and centralise the decision-making process or make it broad and ensure all parts of government are acting towards it. That is that balancing element. Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the policy framework that is ending now, has been really...

Ceisteanna ar Reachtaíocht a Gealladh - Questions on Promised Legislation (3 Nov 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and I had the opportunity to go out and meet some of those families yesterday. We have engaged with many of them over recent months. There has been substantial engagement between my Department, the Ministers, Deputies McEntee and Donnelly, and the Attorney General on this matter. It is an issue we discussed recently at Cabinet. The Minister,...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...in a 2023 situation are relevant to this issue and those Senator Warfield listed out in terms of the issues that the Mental Health Commission has raised. That is why it is incumbent on all of us, Government and Opposition, to get mental health reform through both Houses of the Oireachtas. I am certainly committed, and I am more committed having gone through this process, to using my role...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (13 Oct 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...them, all of them can provide benefits to foster carers as well. We have to look at the response to foster carers in terms of the suite of alternative care policies that Tusla is bringing forward right now on foster carers, on residential care and on aftercare and all the measures that my Department takes, that Tusla takes and, indeed, that the Government takes in response to each of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Children in Care (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As of the end of 2022 approximately 89% of children in care were being cared for by foster carers. While this record compares favorably internationally, I am aware that there is an ongoing difficulty in maintaining the number of foster carers in Ireland in line with demand for these placements. I am aware that while the overall number of children in care has decreased by 621, or by 9.7%...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I know that the Deputy has advocated very strongly on these issues. I am looking forward, from 1 March, to taking on the responsibility for delivery of disability services for children and adults. The Deputy is absolutely right about the crucial issue of the assessment of needs. He knows the history of this. He knows that a new process had been adopted over a number of years. That was...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Registration of Births (24 Mar 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...all agree it did not deliver what survivors of institutions were seeking. Deputy Tully spoke about accountability. One of the key issues with a truth commission is that it requires people to come forward on a non-statutory basis. As a result, what everybody seeks to achieve from an inquiry may not be delivered from a truth commission model as opposed to a commission of inquiry model,...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Report Stage (Resumed) and Final Stage (21 Jun 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...spoken to people where an adoption was not a decision. I accept the Senator's point in this regard, therefore, and I thank her for providing clarity. Ultimately, this legislation seeks to bring forward a redress scheme for this grouping of institutions, namely, the mother and baby and county home institutions. I recognise that in the history of adoption and forced family separation,...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2023.
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Supplementary). (4 Oct 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: We will bring forward the White Paper following the budget. Elements of it are relevant to decisions taken in the budget so we made a determination to hold back until after the budget. Significant work has been done on the revised draft. We hope to be able to publish it soon after the budget. I absolutely agree with the Deputy on the system we have to use at the moment. Every European...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (17 Nov 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I would certainly be happy to engage with the joint committee on this issue. We can continue to be reasonably proud as country that when children are taken into care, 89% of them go to foster care rather than residential. That is a strong proportion compared to other European countries. We want to avoid any child going into care but where it is necessary, it is good that it is in a family...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...presented to the survivor groups and individuals concerned before it goes out to the general public. I have said a number of times that we will provide the full allowable GDPR access, but GDPR is not going to solve all the problems. That is something even the Data Protection Commissioner recognises. The way to resolve the issue of access to information is via information and tracing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (30 Apr 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputies very much. I have a lot to address in one minute. Deputies Ó Cathasaigh and Gould raised the issue of the Before 5 centre and indeed the Tánaiste has raised it with me as well. As I explained to the Deputies, right now our capital funding schemes are for expansions. The situation with the Before 5 centre is where we have an existing service that needs...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...accommodation can be preserved. Both my Department and the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science (DFHERIS) are working closely to develop a joint approach going forward.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Domestic Violence (8 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...based violence is an epidemic in our country. We are ever more conscious of this during Covid-19. The high reporting figures are good because they represent a sign that primarily women are coming forward to say what is happening. The Government has identified this epidemic and is going to address it. There are four major areas besides all the other items that Senator O'Reilly...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Report Stage (14 Jun 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: ...or not, that the basis for it was for people who had institutional experience of county and mother and baby institutions. We are seeking to make that distinction in terms of the amendments coming forward. I accept the Senator has a particular concern as regards the waiver and its breadth. I think the amendment I am bringing forward provides an opportunity. I know it does not go as far...