Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chairman and the staff for organising this. I also thank the Taoiseach for coming in. It is good to have this type of engagement.

I know that Deputy Lawless' committee has much legislation but we have had a lot as well. Even just the name of our committee - the Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth - shows the range of topics and wide remit of both the Department and committee. I will briefly run through some of both the topics and legislation at which we have been looking.

We had many of the issues that emerged from the time of the mother and baby homes with regard to the Institutional Burials Bill 2022 and information and tracing legislation. We have now also started looking for submissions for the pre-legislative scrutiny stage of the redress scheme. They nearly all sort of came together, let us say, within the last year or year and a half. We were delighted to be able to actually get through them, however, particularly with Covid-19, and also to able to bring so many witnesses physically into the Dáil even during Covid. We were delighted to achieve that.

Some of the more topical issues we have been looking at include children with disabilities waiting for assessments of need. We have been looking particularly at the report by the Ombudsman for Children, Dr. Niall Muldoon, on child poverty, particularly in the context of Covid-19, and how that was really brought into sharp contrast for everybody. We also had the opportunity, which was brilliant, to hear from children themselves with regard to Covid-19. They were able to Zoom in to the committee to talk about their experiences. Being a children's committee, we want to do more of that. Also, for everybody's information, it is the European Year of Youth. It is something we will hopefully be able to do a little more of, which at this stage will probably be after the summer recess. We also considered the general scheme of the assisted decision-making (capacity) (amendment) Bill.

Some of my questions have been addressed. They are kind of a combination of what Deputies Quinlivan and Lawless asked about regarding resources and the logistical aspects with the Department. A lot of the legislation has come together. I acknowledge some of this legislation has been on the books for a long time and so I can understand how that happens but, for example, ironically, the work life balance and miscellaneous provisions Bill has been referred to us. We are actually under serious pressure to try to get that done and yet that is a piece to which we really should be giving a lot of time. I am not sure exactly whose remit that falls into but there may be a better way of streamlining or planning some of the legislation because committees need to look at topics as well. I know we need to prioritise legislation but it is good for committees to look at topics like, for example, child poverty, and to be able to do really good reports on that. Sometimes, it feels like we get bogged down in all of the legislation and there is not as much time for topics. I imagine that can be an issue for the Department too because a huge amount falls to it, particularly now in the context of everything that is happening in Ukraine. That also falls to the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth.