Results 161-180 of 3,219 for speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Parental Leave (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: There is a lot there that I welcome, but what the Minister has said on deferred leave is important. The Irish Cancer Society has been in touch with me and several other Members of the House to get that point across. That is something we would certainly like to see. The domestic violence leave is a superb piece of work and I congratulate the Minister on it. Neither the Minister not I are...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Parental Leave (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I would not underestimate the cultural handbrake that is also there. There is definitely a societal pressure, in particular on men, to get that fit of child rearing done and get back to work. That is the thinking on it. I do not subscribe to that view. I think that time you put into your child at home is incredibly valuable and, to speak to our earlier question, gives that best start and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: 89. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he expects to announce further details of the proposed equal participation model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [19261/24]

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I am smiling wryly at the Minister's previous answer. Teachers are very protective of their classrooms: "If they come into mine, they better not mess up the copies or anything else." As regards the fourth strand of the together for better programme, we have ECCE, the access and inclusion model and the national childcare scheme. The first three I understand quite well, but we have a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I believe passionately in this and that we should not confuse equality of outcome with the equality of opportunity we often get in a meritocracy, whereby you start from 50 m and I start from 100 m, we say the finish line is in the same place and we say, "Was it not great we all got to run in the same race?" That is not really how society works. Well, it is how society works but it is not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Additional staff and additional training for existing staff make all sorts of sense to me. The Minister will know that better informing parents is difficult. He talks about targeting that group. Trying to get people to actually interact with the services will be difficult. Will the Minister explain to me a little more about, as I said, the basic nuts and bolts? If I understand this...

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

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I raise very similar concerns to the issues raised by Deputy Stanton. In the case of the naíonra in Tramore, it applied for that previous loan. It needed significant capital investment to maintain what has been an outstanding service for the past 30 years. Similarly, we see the number of housing estates cropping up all across the city and in Tramore. We are already at capacity within...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I am taking this on behalf of Deputy Leddin. We have faced a massive challenge, particularly since 2022 with the outbreak of war in Ukraine. The outbreak of war in mainland Europe is not something we have seen in decades. For the most part, we as a country and particularly communities, have risen to that challenge magnificently. Over 100,000 people have been given shelter on our shores...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I think the Minister of State is right in emphasising that even though what dominates our news cycle are the instances where integration has gone wrong or has failed to take hold, in communities across the country, there are small stories of community integration where it is going right. I would point to my home town of Tramore. We have had direct provision in Tramore for well over 20...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I have a short personal story. I happened to be in UHW visiting a family member over the weekend. I met a nurse there whose accent I could not place. I asked her where her accent was from and it was from Somalia. However, it was not really a Somalian accent, or it started as a Somalian accent but it had a good 20 years of Waterford knocked into it as well. Even had I known at the start...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: European Year of Skills 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: My first question will build on Deputy Farrell's question a bit. I have seen it reported in the media that 3,376 people who engaged in craft apprenticeships failed to finish courses between 2021 and 2023. Is that figure is correct? Are we researching why people are dropping out of these craft apprenticeships? Are we doing anything in terms of retention measures? On lifelong learning...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: European Year of Skills 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Perhaps I will refocus that question. The question asked whether we are researching the profile of the courses being offered in some of those leading countries and if they match what Ireland is doing. I will come back to a personal example. I am unlikely to take an apprenticeship as an electrician at this point in my life. I am entirely likely to go back and study something else. I might...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: European Year of Skills 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I am conscious of time and I am aware the Cathaoirleach runs a tight ship. I asked a question also about those 3,376 people who failed to complete a craft apprenticeship. Can we have information on that?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Skills: European Year of Skills 2023: Discussion (Resumed) (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: If my maths was better I would be able to render it as a percentage but it is a very low percentage drop out rate. If it is 1,526 out of 66,525 it is a very low percentage.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Adoption Services (30 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: 115. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on how many applications for information have been lodged with both Tusla and the Adoption Authority under the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022; how many applications are outstanding beyond the statutory maximum response time; and if he will make a statement on the matter....

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: In the first instance, I have a sense that we are in a better place than we were the last time IFI appeared before this committee in July. There is a sense here of an organisation emerging from a crisis. The Minister's intervention, in terms of discharging the previous board on a no-fault basis, put us in a position where we could rebuild. I have a couple of questions but before posing...

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Okay, so it is meeting on a very regular basis.

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: There would normally be five members on the audit and risk committee, constituted from the board. Has that committee been reconstituted?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Who are the other four members of that committee?

Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022: Inland Fisheries Ireland (25 Apr 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Is it still the case that the committee is meeting before regular board meetings?