Results 10,821-10,840 of 11,816 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Sponsorship arrangement within the NCS to which the Deputy refers offers additional supports for families with complex needs. The need for a referral is a determination that the Sponsor Body must make based on the particular need of the child in line with the defined criteria of the NCS sponsorship programme. Once a child meets the criteria for sponsorship by a given Sponsor Body, the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports to enable children with a disability to access and fully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. It includes 7 levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted. The degree of support provided depends on the needs of the child in the context of the pre-school setting they are...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 100 and 104 together. I am committed to strong and ongoing engagement with former residents of Mother and Baby Institutions and their advocates. The Collaborative Forum process, established by my predecessor as a representative advisory body on issues of priority for former residents, their families and supporters, was unfortunately interrupted by the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme launched in November 2019. It represents the first statutory entitlement to supports for childcare costs in Ireland. 2,938 childcare providers are contracted to provide the NCS in their service. The introduction of the NCS removed the administrative burden from childcare providers of applying for childcare supports on a parent’s behalf. Parents now...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: There are a number of subsidy rates available under the National Childcare Scheme (NCS). The rate to which the Deputy refers is the maximum subsidy rate available for school age children. Higher subsidies are available for younger children, to reflect the higher cost of providing childcare for them because of the higher adult-child ratios required by Regulations. Subsidies range from...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has, in the past, provided limited subsidies to cover part of the cost of transport from school to after school childcare. These subsidies were available to qualifying children on the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programme. The TEC programme closed to new applicants in February 2020. Children receiving subsidies under the TEC programme may remain on TEC until...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Services (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The response to Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue. Policy is coordinated by the Department of Justice and Equality (DJE). Under the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV. I have asked Tusla to respond directly on...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Data Protection (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The recommendations from the Clann project that I received on 23 November 2020 are very extensive. They span several major areas, including detailed proposals on information and tracing legislation, proposals to amend legislation under the remit of other Government Departments, and proposals in relation to the administrative structures of the office of the Data Protection Commissioner. To the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, supports over 90% of children in state care by placing them with foster carers. Tusla is recruiting foster carers, on an ongoing basis, to meet the need for placements for children who need emergency, respite and long term care in a family setting. In October of this year Tusla completed an annual national campaign aimed at raising awareness and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy will appreciated, I have no direct role in operational matters for Tusla. I have however referred the Deputy's question to Tusla for a direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy may be aware that I announced last week that a new accommodation centre will open in Letterkenny in January 2021. The accommodation consists of 60 apartments of 2 and 3 bedroom self-contained units, enabling residents moving to them to have own door accommodation. The accommodation centre will initially become home for families who have been identified to move from existing...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (2 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters submitted its final report to me on the 30th October 2020. I had signalled previously that there would be a short time interval between receipt of the report and the separate arrangements for its publication. The necessary considerations are being expedited to enable this to happen as soon as possible. It...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank both Senators for giving me the opportunity to provide an update on some of these matters. As they know, I received the report of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes on 30 October. As Senator Fitzpatrick mentioned, the report has been years in the making and survivors want to see it published soon. I share that wish. It is important that this report be...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I absolutely agree. I acknowledged during the debates on the database legislation that I had not done enough to engage with survivors. Since then, I have had approximately 40 calls with survivors, individuals and representative groups, which has given me a much greater perspective on the individual harm that was initially done in the mother and baby homes and how the treatment by the State...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is referring to an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. I have therefore referred the matter to Tusla, and asked that a direct response be provided to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Parental Leave (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: To support parents of children born during the strict lockdown measures, the Government intends to extend parent's leave from two weeks to five weeks for each parent of all children born or adopted on or after 1 November 2019. The Government also intends to extend the period in which parent's leave can be taken up until that child turns two or, in the case of an adoption, two years after the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National LGBTI+ Strategy (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 524 and 525 together. The National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019-2021 was launched in November 2019. It is a comprehensive framework for action on LGBTI+ equality and contains 108 actions that are directly aligned to concrete outcomes intended to transform the lives of LGBTI+ people across Ireland. The implementation of the Strategy is overseen by a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Early learning and care providers providing the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme are required to provide 38 weeks of ECCE over 44 calendar weeks. The 2020/21 ECCE programme year began on 24 August 2020 and will finish 44 weeks later on 25 June 2021. ECCE service providers can choose which 38 weeks out of the 44 week period to provide services, which enables them to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 527 and 529 together. I am aware of the issues which occurred at St. Patrick's accommodation centre, Co. Monaghan. I understand that these were addressed in September. Accommodation centres are subject to regular unannounced inspections by both my officials in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) and an independent inspectorate...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Asylum Seekers (1 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am aware of the incident referred to by the Deputy. The person concerned had been accommodated at the National Reception Centre in Balseskin which is the initial phase of reception where medical screening and an orientation process is provided over a period of 4 to 6 weeks. If a person wishes to remain in accommodation provided by the International Protection Accommodation Service, he or...