Results 1,001-1,020 of 2,967 for speaker:Séamus Healy

Children and Family Relationships Bill 2015: Second Stage (Resumed) (25 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: I broadly welcome the Children and Family Relationships Bill. It is a positive contribution to the law in this area. It updates and improves the legislation. I suppose it reflects the changes in society over the years and takes account of the many different family types currently in existence. Some areas within the Bill could be improved or amended and I will refer to those shortly. ...

Income and Living Conditions: Motion [Private Members] (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: Austerity comes in many different forms and is all pervasive for the ordinary people in the country who are the vast majority of the population. The past four years of austerity have come from a Government which has absolutely no mandate for it. During the last general election we heard it was going to be Labour's way and not Frankfurt's way, there was not going to be another cent for the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: I hope the Minister is not suggesting that I wish to take these children out of the wider review for any negative reason. The reason I ask that they be dealt with separately from the review is to ensure that their special needs can be adequately and urgently addressed. I ask the Minister to seriously consider doing something immediately for children in this regard.

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 124. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide extra resources to child care providers in respect of children with additional and special needs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7976/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: Will the Minister to provide extra resources to child care providers in respect of children with additional and special needs?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: As the Minister knows well and has mentioned, the provision for children with disabilities or special educational needs is limited in the extreme in the child care area. Where it is available at all, it is very limited and inconsistent throughout the country. The measure of any society is how it supports the most vulnerable members, and surely young children with additional and special...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: Quality early childhood education is paramount for the healthy development of children. It is also important from the point of view of addressing educational and future employment outcomes for children as well as the prevention of poverty and all the various social difficulties that may arise. There are 4,300 centres in the country employing approximately 24,000 staff. The majority of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: Will the Minister restore the capitation grant that was reduced in budget 2011, at least on an interim basis?

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: We can all agree on this and the Minister is in agreement, but what we really need is action. In 2011 we were promised graduate-led child care, a second free preschool year and a Scandinavian-type child care system. None of that has materialised. There are numerous difficulties in the service for staff. These are qualified staff providing a well laid out and accepted curriculum but at low...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 122. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide a clear timeframe according to which he will move Ireland from the current investment in child care provision of 0.2% of gross domestic product to 0.7% of gross domestic product; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7975/15]

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: It is widely accepted that early childhood education is underfunded and under-resourced and is being subsidised by communities, staff, employers and parents. Will the Minister set out a timeline whereby he will move from the current investment of 0.2% of GDP to the accepted level of 0.7% of GDP?

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Preschool Services (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 135. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide a second full free preschool year for all children in the near future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7741/15]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 146. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will increase the capitation fee payable under the early childhood care and education scheme, to the level required to provide the service; if he will re-instate 2011 levels of capitation, as an interim measure; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7740/15]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 153. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide a capitation grant for all children in child care, until they are eligible to attend primary school; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7742/15]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 161. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will provide the minimum salary levels for employees of child care providers, who are in receipt of the capitation fee, in view of the fact that the capitation rate for the free preschool year is a major factor affecting salary levels in child care provision; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7739/15]

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Strategy Implementation (24 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 168. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will extend eligibility for the existing learner fund to all child care staff, in order to enable all staff to access third level qualifications; if he will fund child-free continuous professional development days, in order to enable child care workers to implement the national curriculum and quality frameworks; and if he will make...

Written Answers — Department of Finance: Tax Data (19 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 66. To ask the Minister for Finance the number of workers in the construction sector that were taxed on a pay as you earn basis in each year since 2008; the total revenue earned by these workers in each of these years; the total amount of tax, universal social charge and employee's pay related social insurance paid by these workers in each of these years; the total amount of employer's pay...

Written Answers — Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Trade Agreements (17 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 150. To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine in view of the prediction by the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation of up to 1 million displaced jobs in the European Union due to the proposed transatlantic trade and investment partnership between the United States of America and the European Union and the danger that the Irish food market will be flooded with low-grade, hormone-injected...

Other Questions: Industrial Development (12 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: 9. To ask the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation if he will provide a list of the sites owned by IDA Ireland in County Tipperary that have potential for use for inward investment in the future; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5839/15]

Other Questions: Industrial Development (12 Feb 2015)

Séamus Healy: In view of the very significant level of unemployment in County Tipperary, which is much higher than the national average, and the fact that the county is not getting its fair share of foreign direct investment, I ask the Minister, Deputy Richard Bruton, to provide a list of sites available for of inward investment in the county.