Results 41-60 of 19,414 for speaker:Norma Foley

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. The annual early years sector profile survey does not collect staff retention data specifically. However, it does record data on staff turnover. Data from this survey shows that, over the period from 2019 to 2023, staff turnover rates ranged from 23% in 2019 to 24.5% in 2023. The 2023 data shows that almost one third of the turnover rate is due to staff moving from one...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I acknowledge this is a personal interest of Deputy Kerrane because she has raised it on many occasions. It is my absolute determination that €45 million is being made available and it is my absolute wish that that €45 million is used fully, totally and wholly for the purpose for which it is given. I would always say, irrespective of whether I am inside the House or...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I want to be clear that I absolutely respect the independence of the joint labour committee. It is important it would do its work and that it would have that independence, but I am acknowledging there is that €45 million available and it is my view it should go for the purpose of salaries. The Deputy referenced the previous EROs and what occurred there. I acknowledge that the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy and I appreciate the question. The Deputy has engaged with me on an ongoing basis on this. As I have stated previously, the State is not the employer of staff in the sector and neither I nor the Department can set their pay or determine working conditions. The joint labour committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I absolutely agree with the Deputy. It is to everyone's benefit, most especially the children, that we have suitably remunerated and qualified staff. That is the purpose of specifically ring-fencing the funding this year. As I have already said, it is my absolute desire that it would be used in full for that purpose. I also acknowledge that there is significant work under way to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Deputy is correct. The Government has made a significant commitment to improve accessibility, availability, affordability and the quality of early learning and childcare provision. Investment in early learning and childcare is now at an unprecedented level with public funding exceeding €1.37 billion in 2025, clearly demonstrating the Government’s commitment to this area. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I agree with much of what the Deputy said. It is much of Government policy insofar as the key elements of that policy are, in the first instance, to manage and reduce costs for parents, which is a key anchor, and, second, to ensure sustainability of the service is being provided and that providers are sustainable in moving forward. A further element is to increase provision of places and to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I will be clear. I am very happy to engage with the Deputy on this. I engage on an ongoing basis with stakeholders on whatever body of work needs to be done. He is right. We are unanimous in our acknowledgement across every sector within this Chamber that a job of work needs to be done and must continue to be done in this sector. However, while significant progress has been made, more...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: As the State is not the employer of staff in this sector, neither I nor the Department can set pay or determine working conditions. The joint labour committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in employment regulation orders. I absolutely acknowledge the joint labour committee is independent...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I acknowledge the manner in which the Deputy and his party leader have followed this through. What I can say is that the portal was recently upgraded and it now includes fee lists for the previous programme year of 2023 to 2024. There is an issue at present - there is no point in saying there is not - in terms of the capacity of the Hive website to go further back. To ameliorate that or...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The officials are working on the solution and the 2021-22 fees list will be made available through the county and city childcare committees. Also published will be the list of services that have been approved to increase their fees through the fee increase assessment process. It is the Department's best estimate currently that this will be available in the coming weeks. I am happy to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I thank the Deputy. She is 100% right. There must be learnings from this. We are conscious this is the story of Grace and others. It is important to point out that since Grace's case first arose, there have been a number of steps forward in safeguarding. There was the development of the Ombudsman for Children's Office, the establishment of HIQA, the establishment of Tusla - Child and...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Safeguarding is everybody's responsibility and should be everybody's business. I am committed to working with the HSE and Tusla to ensure there is a focus on continually enhancing the approach to safeguarding across all services. We are conscious of the obligations on us as individuals, whether working in the field of education, sport or whatever. When we deal with young people, we are all...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Thanks very much, Deputy. I am aware the childcare search on the Hive website does not currently contain fees listed for services for the programme year 2021 to 2022. The portal was originally designed to contain information for the current programme year only. In addition to service fee lists, the following information is available on the portal: contact details for services; whether...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The commission of investigation into certain matters relative to a disability service in the south east and related matters, or the Farrelly commission, is an independent statutory commission of investigation established in 2017 to investigate the care and protection of Grace, which, as we are all aware, is a pseudonym, and others in a former foster home in the south east, which has been the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Offices (10 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I am very conscious of the pain caused by the deaths of children who were resident in the former Mother and Baby institution in Bessborough. One of the most tragic aspects of what happened is the uncertainty regarding the burial place of many children who were resident there. The investigation of burial arrangements in Mother and Baby institutions, including Bessborough, was an important...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Youth Work Supports (10 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Youth funding is administered on behalf of my Department by the 16 Education and Training Boards. Youth funding is allocated on an annual basis to each Education and Training Board for youth services within each ETB functional area rather than on a county-by-county basis. The youth funding provided to Waterford Wexford Education and Training Board for the period 2020 to 2025 for both...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (10 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you for your question, Deputy. A response will be provided directly to you in the coming days.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Schemes (10 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I would like to offer my sincere condolences to any parents who have been bereaved and to acknowledge that there are many people who will have experienced this loss. There is currently no form of statutory bereavement leave of any kind in Ireland. This type of leave is normally dealt with through employment contracts. The Government fully appreciates that parents who have...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Reports (10 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 343 and 344 together. I can confirm to the Deputy that research is being undertaken for the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage on the impact of the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme, if any, on the private rental market. My Department has facilitated the transfer of anonymised ARP data to assist in that research I can further...