Results 941-960 of 11,700 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2024: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Yes, in other areas.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2024: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is important to say that I do not want to be in any way overly harsh towards people who work in the drafting office and who do huge work. It is simply an issue of the pressure of work that is taking place at present. There is a finance Bill that will need to be drafted soon, a planning Bill that is going through the Senator's House, a gambling Bill, a family law report Bill and other...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: General Scheme of the Maternity Protection (Amendment) and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2024: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: "Yes" is the clear answer. The policy intent is as set out here. I would not have gone through this convoluted process if the whole intent had been to pass legislation that was not delivering on what we all understood, which was to outlaw the use of NDAs in these circumstances. I hope I can provide that reassurance to Senator Ruane now.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Improving access to quality and affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority of Government. Data available to my Department demonstrate that, overall, early learning and childcare provision is expanding, specifically: Data from the Early Years Sector Profile Survey shows that, between 2021/22 and 2022/23, the estimated number of enrolments in services rose by 8% from 197,210...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme provides free universal pre-school to children in the eligible age range. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year. The programme year runs from the end of August to the following June in line with the primary school year. An approved ECCE provider must be registered with Tusla to...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: An inspection from the HSE Environmental Health team took place at River Lodge on 11 September 2024. A report has since been received which has made a number of recommendations regarding food safety compliance. The Department will cooperate fully with the HSE to implement these recommendations. Tented accommodation at River Lodge was established under emergency circumstances, and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 360 and 361 together. My appointment of Patricia Carey as Special Advocate for Survivors took effect on 25 March of this year. This followed an independent, open and transparent recruitment campaign, managed by the Public Appointments Service. The role of the Special Advocate is to promote the collective interests of survivors, as expressed by them, and to...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) releases weekly statistics in relation to people seeking international protection (IP), including a per-county breakdown of where IP applicants are residing. These statistics are located on the gov.ie website: Currently, there are over 32,000 people accommodated across IPAS. As of 31 August, 5,234 of those accommodated by IPAS...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The State has a legal obligation to assess the claims of those who seek International Protection (IP), and in that time, to provide accommodation and supports in line with the Recast Reception Conditions Directive (transposed under SI 230 of 2018, or the "Reception Conditions Regulations"), regardless of their country of origin. Any potential arrivals from Sudan will be treated in the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) is a key priority of Government. Data available to my Department demonstrates that, overall, ELC provision is expanding nationally, specifically: Data from the Early Years Sector Profile Survey shows that, between 2021/22 and 2022/23, the estimated number of enrolments in services rose by 8% from 197,210 to...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, my Department continues to work as part of the whole-of-Government response with a focus on providing access to emergency temporary accommodation to those fleeing the conflict who request it, in line with Government policy. This supports them to make longer term independent arrangements if they decide to remain in Ireland for the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Home Care Packages (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: As this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, my Department continues to work as part of the whole-of-Government response with a focus on providing access to emergency temporary accommodation to those fleeing the conflict who request it, in line with Government policy. This supports them to make longer term independent arrangements if they decide to remain in Ireland for the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Firstly, I would like to thank the Deputy for sharing this note from the Family Resource Centre Employers Action Group. I am aware of many of their concerns from my engagement with the Family Resource Centre National Forum. My Department allocates core funding for the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme via Tusla, which amounts to some €24 million in 2024. At the end of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 372 and 374 together. My Department is currently collating the information requested and a reply will issue directly to the Deputy in due course.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Annual Early Years Sector Profile survey is the primary data source on the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) sector. It is developed and administered by Pobal on behalf of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (DCEDIY). All services who are contracted to deliver at least one DCEDIY funded programme/scheme (i.e. ECCE, NCS, CCSP)...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I would like to thank the Deputy for raising the question regarding the publishing of the Parent Statements for Partner Service. I have been informed by the relevant unit within my Department that they have been in contact with Pobal, the Core Funding scheme administrator, to facilitate uploading the Parent Statements to the NCS childcare search. My Department will endeavour to have...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Services who contract into Core Funding are required to keep their fees at the same level as the fees charged to parents in September 2021. Partner Services may create a new Service Type and agree that the fee for any new Service Type will be calculated as not more than a proportion of the closest equivalent fee extant on September 30, 2021 which, all other things being equal, would apply...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I would like to thank the Deputy for raising this question. Current fees list for 2024/2025 programme year are available to view by parents on the NCS website under the Childcare Search function. I have asked that historical fees lists for each service provider also be added to the website and this will be introduced in the coming weeks to give parents the ability to check previous years...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Freedom of Information (24 Sep 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The table below outlines the number of Freedom of Information requests received by this Department in 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024 and sets out the number of requests that were refused in their entirety at the initial decision maker stage. Year Number of FOI requests received Number refused 2022 259 63 2023 394...