Results 2,141-2,160 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Registration of Births (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am committed to addressing the distressing situation of those affected by the St. Patrick’s Guild Illegal Birth Registrations. In February, I established an Interdepartmental Group to develop a set of integrated proposals that would address the issues arising for these individuals.They span a range of areas including, in particular, birth registration, identity, parentage and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare scheme launched in November 2019, marking the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for early learning and childcare in Ireland. To date, over 105,200 applications have been submitted for the NCS relating to over 99,400 children. There are currently 911 community services contracted to provide the NCS, out of a total of just over 1,200 community...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department administers an annual capital funding programme for early learning and childcare services. The exact objective of the funding is determined on an annual basis, having regard to the needs of children, families and providers and to the Government’s priorities. In recent years, a key objective of the annual capital programme has been to expand capacity in early learning...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand the Deputy has clarified that this extended remit of the Department of Education relates to the educational welfare services in Tusla having a sponsor role under the National Childcare Scheme. The Scheme is under review at present, and this provides us with an opportunity to consider any possible changes to sponsorship arrangements. The National Childcare Scheme represents the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Covid-19 Pandemic (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I welcome the Deputy’s question as I am committed to listening to young people and understanding all aspects of their lives, particularly at present in relation to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The importance of supporting young people through this crisis and beyond is also reflected in the additional €5 million funding I secured for youth services in the last budget....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: ECCE is a two-year pre-school programme available to all children. The programme runs from September to June each year. ECCE is not mandatory, but participation rates are very high, with 95% of children in the eligible age range attending. Pobal administers the ECCE programme on behalf of my Department, and they have informed me that there are 880 services providing the ECCE Programme in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Cybersecurity Policy (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since the cyber attack I have spoken on a very regular basis with the Chief Executive Officer of Tusla, Bernard Gloster. I have had a lengthy engagement wth the Chair of the Board, Pat Rabbitte. I have not had a separate meeting with the entire Board of Tusla on this matter because I am satisfied that it is being handled appropriately in other ways. My most recent meeting with the Board...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: United Nations (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department is designated as Ireland’s Focal Point and Coordination Mechanism under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) and is responsible for the drafting of Ireland’s Initial State report on the implementation of the Convention. Drafting of the State Report is ongoing. On the 3 December 2020, I published a draft version of the Initial...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Legislative Process (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am committed to commencing the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act by June 2022, and I do not envisage a delay to that date at this point. The Government made a commitment in the Programme for Government to commencing the Act, recognising the importance of the much needed reform it represents. The Act is a very important piece of legislation that changes the existing law on capacity...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Cybersecurity Policy (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I want to start by acknowledging that the past weeks have been significantly challenging for the Agency and all its committed staff, particularly coming as it does following on from the crisis associated with the Covid-19 pandemic. I have absolute faith in the abilities of the crisis management team chaired by CEO, the technical incident room chaired by Director of ICT and the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 21 and 42 together. A Vulnerability Assessment process is currently being piloted by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) of my Department. The pilot commenced in December 2020 and was extended to all new applicants for international protection from the beginning of February. The pilot will continue until end 2021, at which point it will...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Cybersecurity Policy (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: On Tuesday 25th May I attending a briefing session with the National Cyber Security Centre in respect of the recent ransom ware attacks. I have also been attending a daily Ministerial meeting on the matter. ICT services are provided to my Department by the Office of the Government Chief Information Officer (OGCIO). The provision of ICT security is part of that service. My officials are...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am pleased to inform the Deputy of the positive progress made on improving access to high quality, and affordable early learning and care and school-age childcare (ELC/SAC). Key achievements include: - Since 2015, State investment has increased by 141%. - Since 2018, all children are entitled to two full years of the ECCE Programme. For the current programme year, there are more than...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that officials from the Irish Refugee Protection Programme in my Department, along with Tusla personnel and members of An Garda Síochána will travel next week to Greece for a selection and security screening process for 12 refugee families (50 persons) and 27 Separated Children Seeking International Protection. The Government pledge of last...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Legislative Measures (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Disability (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2016, which was drafted to ensure implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, had completed Dáil Committee Stage during the previous Government, but lapsed with the dissolution of the previous Dáil and Seanad and was not restored to the Order Paper. Consideration is being given to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Inter-agency cooperation between Tusla, the Child and Family Agency and An Garda Síochána is critical to child protection. Both have distinct functions, powers, responsibilities and methods of working, as assigned by legislation and agency protocols. Their close cooperation ensures that children in need of protection receive a timely, appropriate and proportionate response. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Strategies (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Progress continues to be made on enabling children and young people to have a voice in decisions which affect them. The primary consultative forum for children and young people is Comhairle na nÓg , established and supported by my Department in partnership with the 31 Local Authorities. Comhairle gets children and young people's voices heard in two main ways. The young members identify...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Domestic Violence (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since its formation, this Government has made clear that tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a key priority. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to investigate the provision of paid leave and social protection provision to victims of domestic violence with a view to establishing a statutory entitlement to paid domestic violence leave. My Department is...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to advise the Deputy that I am not in a position to comment as responsibility for disability services has not yet transferred to my Department. These matters are more appropriate for the attention of my Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Health. The recent cyber attack on the Department of Health has rendered them unable to access their IT systems.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Health Service Executive (27 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy will be aware of Tusla's Data Management Strategy 2019 – 2022. The Strategy includes a range of strategic actions across a range of themes. One such action is to migrate all Tusla data sources that are currently under the management of HSE to new environments under the control of Tusla ICT. Work commenced in 2019 and is due for completion in Q4 2022. The timescale and...