Results 1,361-1,380 of 11,700 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Core funding has been in operation since 15 September 2022 and has achieved significant successes in terms of the high level of participation we are seeing. Right now, 4,632 services nationwide are eligible to partake in the core funding scheme. Of those, 4,369 are partner services, meaning 267 services have not signed up to core funding. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: There were a couple of questions there. We have some information about black spots, mainly through the city and county childcare committees. We have just set up a new unit in our Department, a bit like the forward planning unit in the Department of Education, very much designed around a better understanding of where pressure spots are, and we are feeding that information into local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy knows, on 27 March 2024, the Government agreed a new comprehensive accommodation strategy, CAS, for international protection applicants. This has a twofold aim. The immediate aim is to deal with the situation where we are not able to offer accommodation to everybody right now, and a significant number of people were sleeping rough on our streets. The secondary aim, as the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I agree with much of what the Deputy said. We have to remember we are rebuilding our international protection system in real time. For years we were not getting anywhere close to the European average for international protection applicants. Since 2022 we have been getting the average, but our system was not built for those numbers. We are having to rebuild the processing system. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The comprehensive accommodation strategy is to run until 2028. The vision set out in my answer of 13,000 beds and the various elements is something we wish to achieve by 2028. We have already taken significant steps in the use of State land. That has been a huge change. There is the site at Crooksling, County Dublin, and at Trudder, County Wicklow, where we are now accommodating a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since 2020, there has been a significant increase in the number of stand-alone school-age childcare services registered with Tusla, with 546 more services now on the Tusla register. At the end of Q1 2024, there was a total of 2,546 registered school-age services. A large number of early learning and childcare services also offer school-age childcare places in addition to places for younger...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: In September 2022, I launched Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare. This new funding model supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good, for affordability, accessibility and quality for children and families as well as sustainability for providers. Through Together for Better, my Department provides a number of schemes...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department is progressing a range of actions to ensure the supply of early learning and childcare is aligned with demand, with work in this area led by a new Supply Management Unit that I established earlier this year. A key part of the Supply Management Unit’s remit is to develop a planning function for monitoring, analysing and forecasting of the supply and demand - akin to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Reform of the early learning and childcare sector is a commitment in the Programme for Government, bringing together the best of community and private provision, and the development of a new funding model, to achieve Government's objectives of affordable, accessible and high-quality services. An Expert Group was established in September 2019 to develop this funding model. Under their...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Capital funding through the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Scheme consists of two strands of funding over 2024 and 2025. The deadline for the first strand, the Building Blocks Expansion Scheme, has now closed. Under this strand, capital funding for projects valued at between €50,000 and €100,000 is being provided for the renovation or reconfiguration of existing services to...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Ensuring access to quality, affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority for Government. Various data sources provide evidence that the supply of early learning and childcare is increasing. Sector profile data shows an increase in enrolments nationally of 8% between 2022 and 2023 with a similar increase in enrolments in Kildare for the same period. Data from Core Funding...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Defective Building Materials (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 46, 49 and 55 together. I have been informed by officials within my Department that Pobal and Donegal Childcare Committee are in communication with Ardara Community Childcare regarding the issue of defective blocks. My Department works with Pobal and local Childcare Committees to offer Case Management support to services in difficulty. Through this...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy is aware, statutory and operational responsibility for the delivery of child protection and welfare services is a matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. Tusla and An Garda Síochána are the two agencies in the state with statutory responsibility for assessing (Tusla) and investigating (An Garda Síochána) allegations of child abuse and promoting the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Various schemes under the funding model for early learning and childcare work to ensure children can access early learning and childcare at no or at significantly reduced out of pocket costs to families. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, is available free of charge to all children for up to two years before starting primary school. 96% of children take part. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: School Staff (18 Jun 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: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Significant progress has been made in advancing plans for a dedicated state agency for early learning childcare. It is envisaged that this agency will undertake the functions currently carried out by Pobal Early Years (including Better Start), the 30 City/County Childcare Committees, as well as operational functions currently undertaken by my Department. A Programme Oversight Board has...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Reports (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department and the Child and Family Agency (Tusla) continue to take the issue of potential Child Sexual Exploitation very seriously and are committed to promoting safe and high quality practice in all areas of Alternative Care, including working with An Garda Síochána as required. I can confirm that following a successful research tendering process Quality Matters have been...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I confirm that there are no International Protection applicants at Hilden House,. While it has housed Beneficiaries of Temporary Protecting fleeing the war in Ukraine, it has never been used to accommodate IP applicants.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Legal Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Awaiting reply from Department

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Emergency Accommodation (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Currently, there are over 31,000 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) system as a whole (of whom 7,680 are children) compared with approximately 8,700 people at the end of February 2022. The Department engages intensively and proactively on a continuing basis with providers of contracted accommodation to identify any available bed spaces at...