Results 3,861-3,880 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to signal to Seanad Éireann that I may bring amendments to the Bill on Report Stage to address an issue relating to institutions covered in the scheme and their continued operation in other capacities. This issue is complex in nature and particularly relates to county home institutions. It is currently being considered by my officials in consultation with the Attorney General's...

Seanad: Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Bill 2022: Committee Stage (Resumed) (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator. He is right that the Report Stage debate is scheduled for four hours at the moment. As the Senator knows, Committee Stage was originally scheduled for three hours and we have been dealing with it for a lot longer. That is absolutely fine because it is important legislation. It is important that we give the amendments that were in order and, in certain circumstances,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Unaccompanied Minors and Separated Children (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Statutory and operational responsibility for the delivery of child protection and welfare services is a matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Deputy is seeking information in relation to an operational matter for Tusla. Consequently, I have referred the matter to Tusla, and requested that a direct response be provided to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Social Welfare Payments (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Matters related to social welfare payments are a matter for the Department of Social Protection. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department of Social Protection may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has, since 2016, funded the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In line with emerging best practice to support the integration and independence of children with a disability, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) does not fund Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). Rather, Level 7 of AIM provides financial support to the pre-school provider, which is used either to reduce the adult-to-child ratio in the pre-school room or to buy in additional assistance to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: School age childcare (SAC) services are required to operate within regulatory minimum adult-to-child ratios as set out in the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018. The ratio is the minimum number of adults required to supervise, care for and work directly with the children in the service. The introduction of SAC Regulations in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare that is affordable and accessible is a key Government priority and my Department relies on a number of data sources to monitor supply and demand. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of my Department - through the Early Years Sector Profile Survey - is one important data source that allows us to monitor supply and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. It provides children with their first formal experience of early learning prior to commencing primary school. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and the programme year runs...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. The Department monitors early learning and childcare capacity on an ongoing basis, with a particular focus on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of my Department - through the Early Years Sector Profile Survey - is one...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 148 and 152 together. In instances where a service has concerns about their sustainability, the first step in obtaining support is for the service to reach out to their local City and County Childcare Committee (CCC). Once a services engages with their local CCC they will be able to avail of supports through the case management process. My Department...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. It provides children with their first formal experience of early learning prior to commencing primary school. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and the programme year runs...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. It provides children with their first formal experience of early learning prior to commencing primary school. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and the programme year runs...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. The Department monitors early learning and childcare capacity on an ongoing basis, with a particular focus on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of my Department - through the Early Years Sector Profile Survey - is...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: There are currently more than 4,200 Partner Services participating in Core Funding – representing 95% of all eligible services. These services must operate in line with the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement. Regarding fees, Partner Services must uphold their contractual obligations regarding Fee Management as laid out in this Agreement. In its first year, Partner Services...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I acknowledge that many early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services report staffing difficulties in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover. However, providers of ELC and SAC are private businesses. As the State does not...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I and the Government welcomed the publication of the independent review in relation to the handling of past complaints in St John Ambulance Ireland (SJAI). I thank Dr Geoffrey Shannon for his work in bringing to light his findings, and acknowledge the dedication and extraordinary courage that victim-survivors have shown through their central role in ensuring the review was undertaken....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As I said, this is an all-of-government approach. I focused in my reply on the things I am doing within my Department. I make no apologies for having a long-term strategy as to how to tackle these issues. The work we are doing now in respect of the NCS, core funding, the expansion of AIM - all those really good programmes - came about after a little long-term thought. I am very proud that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Cost of Living Issues (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The fact that the Government has now created a unit dedicated to tackling child poverty for the first time ever in the history of the State is very clear evidence of the fact that the Government is committed to addressing the needs of these children and families and doing so in a way that is not once-off but systemic and looks to tackle the causes of child poverty at its roots, be they issues...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy will be aware, since the start of last year the State has responded to the largest humanitarian crisis it has ever faced. In spite of the unprecedented pressures for accommodation, more than 100,000 people arriving in Ireland in that time have found shelter and safety here. Approximately 85,000 of those have been provided with accommodation through my Department and, of those,...