Results 9,961-9,980 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services Provision (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Disability Participation and Consultation Network was established in 2020 as a mechanism to ensure that people with a disability and their representative organisations are involved in the development of policy and legislation. The Network is made up of an Organising Member and four Grant Funded Members who play a central role in coordinating and organising the the work of the Network....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services Provision (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Disability Participation and Consultation Network was established in 2020 as a mechanism to ensure that people with a disability and their representative organisations are involved in the development of policy and legislation. The Network is made up of an Organising Member and four Grant Funded Members who play a central role in coordinating and organising the the work of the Network....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Equality Issues (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy was published in 2018 and it is a world first, action-oriented mission to ensure all LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included. This Strategy remains a key commitment for my Department as part of the 2020 Programme for Government. The Strategy also plays an important part to achieve the Government's broader commitment to continue to strive for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Equality Issues (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019 - 2021 provides a framework for improving the lives of LGBTI+ people by enabling their full participation in Ireland's social, economic, cultural, and political life. My Department plays a coordinating role in the implementation and monitoring of the Strategy. In this regard, I chair a monitoring Committee that comprises representatives of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Independent Review into illegal birth registrations, which was published recently, concluded that it is unlikely that a more comprehensive review of records would provide clear information relating to the existence of markers or wording suggestive of markers and the degree to which they may potentially be linked to incorrect birth registrations. Notwithstanding this, I am aware that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The ongoing management of the organisation referred to by the Deputy is a matter for their Board, including the challenges being presented due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions. My Department provides substantial funding to this organisation, which plays an important role in providing young people with opportunities for developmental experiences and informal learning. All of the youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to inform the Deputy that my officials have asked Tusla to respond directly to you on this matter.

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand where the Deputy is coming from but this is not something that can be done on a temporary basis. We are dealing with primary legislation here and if we put in three years we would have to bring in primary legislation to take that out if we decided to shorten the period. It is different from dealing with it through a statutory instrument. We are making a significant change to...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the leave is currently designed, it has to be taken within the first year of the child's birth. My proposal is that this can be taken in the first two years. Deputy Whitmore's alternative is the first three years. I suppose we are trying to achieve a balance. The core reason we are bringing it out to two years is that acknowledgement of the difficulties faced by families and by new...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: We are being proactive in bringing in the three-week provision this year and in extending it out to the first two years of birth. This extension is to recognise the difficulties new parents have had during the Covid crisis and the lack of traditional supports, be they immediate family supports or the wider societal supports that families normally seek to avail of. We have demonstrated a...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputies for bringing forward these two amendments, which are very similar. While I understand the intention of the Deputies in proposing that we provide a report on a review of this legislation within a year, I do not consider that to be the best approach. I do not agree that these amendments offer the best way to proceed and I will try to explain why that is the case. The...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for raising this point. He has engaged with me directly about this and I have issued a response. It is an important point. As we work towards the full transposition of the work-life balance directive, we will have to continue to look at the position regarding carer's leave. It is covered under Article 6 of the directive, which provides for five days of annual carer's...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Asylum Seekers (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 122 to 124, inclusive, together. I am aware of the open letter signed by healthcare professional in Ireland concerning asylum seekers and refugees on Lesvos. The Government pledge of last October to resettle up to 50 people from Lesvos was in addition to the commitment that Ireland had already made with the UNHCR to resettle 2,900 refugees to Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Parental Leave (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Policy on surrogacy rests with the Minister for Health while policy on parentage rests with the Minister for Justice.  Legislation on family leaves must be developed in the context of the legal situation concerning parentage, including in relation to surrogacy.  Any changes in the legal situation with regard to parentage and surrogacy are matters for the Minister for Justice and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Communications (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department is currently compiling the information requested by the Deputy and a response will be issued directly as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Protected Disclosures (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: In the period 2017 to 2020 two Protected Disclosures were received by the Department, one in 2017 and one in 2019. No Protected Disclosures have been received in 2021 to date. One additional disclosure was received in late 2016 and has been the subject of examination in the period referred to. In relation to the 2017 disclosure the Department responded at the time and the person who made...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Protected Disclosures (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: In relation to the period 2017 to date in 2021 no protected disclosures were made by current officials of my Department, officials not now working in my Department or by retired officials of this Department.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: National Childcare Scheme (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) was introduced in November 2019. Since then, over 50,000 children have benefitted from NCS subsidies. Through the NCS, the State offers financial support to parents for childcare through the provision of subsidies, paid directly to their Early Learning and Care (ELC) or School Age Childcare (SAC) provider. Parents can access their NCS award through any...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Policy Functions (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department's role is to co-ordinate and monitor national disability policy through two strategies, the National Disability Inclusion Strategy and the Comprehensive Employment Strategy for People with Disabilities and through the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.  It is a matter for each Department to implement the relevant...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021 [Seanad]: Second Stage (24 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank Deputies across the House for their support for this legislation. It was noticeable from the contributions that we all recognise the challenges families have faced and face, particularly the challenges new families face. Those first months after the birth of a child are always a challenging time but Covid has magnified every single challenge in society. The measure we are taking...