Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein)
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I have questions for the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and the Department of Education and Skills. I will be begin with the development of a strategy for babies, young children and their families. I am aware that the LGBTQI strategy was launched and that it runs from 2018 to 2020. The national youth strategy runs from 2015 to 2020. Is there capacity in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to deliver on these strategies? Not all of the actions are deliverable by the Department. In many cases they are across government. Is there capacity within the Department to deliver on the actions outlined in all strategies? For the LGBTQI strategy there is an oversight committee, the youth advisory group, with an independent chairperson. Will the officials from the Department speak to us about the process through which the national strategy for babies, young children and their families was developed? I am sure the work of the committee was of benefit. What is the cost of developing these strategies? Is all of the work done internally, or are there consultants involved? I do not need the exact numbers, but I am interested in ballpark figures for how strategies are developed in the Department.

With regard to the active school flag, as mayor of South Dublin County Council, one of the most joyous activities was dealing with the green schools initiative. I presume the active school flag is a physical flag, as I had not heard of it. Is the initiative gaining traction? Do the officials from the Department of Education and Skills know the number of schools involved and, if so, will they share the statistics with us?