Results 2,161-2,180 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (22 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I plan to replace existing targeted childcare schemes, including the Community Childcare Subvention, with a single Affordable Childcare Scheme that links the level of subsidy to a family’s income, with the largest subsidies going to those with the lowest incomes. The benefits of moving to an income basis for payments under the new scheme include: - Clarity, with a move away from a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (23 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy will be aware an expansion of ECCE, the free pre-school programme, took place following Budget 2016. This expansion was given significant consideration by the Inter-Departmental Group on Future Investment in Childcare which reported in July 2015. Senior officials from the Department of Education and Skills contributed to the discussions on an upper age limit for the scheme,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (23 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I assume that the Deputy is referring to payments to organisations, networks or stations involved in the broadcast of radio and television programmes. In this regard the Deputy might note that my Department, the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Túsla, the Child and Family Agency did not incur any such payments and that the Office of the Ombudsman for Children will respond directly to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question. The child care regulations introduced for newly-registering preschool services on 30 June 2016, and for existing services on 31 December 2016, require all staff working directly with children to have at least a major award at level 5 on the national qualifications framework in early childhood care and education or a qualification deemed by the Minister to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy indicated, I am aware of the issues she outlined. I have also spoken to and have had a meeting with the Minister for Social Protection on this matter. I have asked my officials to focus on the most acute challenges facing services and the impact of the removal of unqualified community employment workers from ratios is one of those most acute challenges. I am aware of these...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I completely with the Deputy in that regard. She will appreciate that my Department gave a substantial lead-in period to allow for most of the members within the child care and early education sector to prepare for and comply with the regulations. I fully understand it was not possible for that to be the case, particularly with regard to some of the people who are providing in the community...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: It is important to appreciate that these institutions ceased operating many decades ago. The reality is that many of the buildings and sites which accommodated mother and baby homes and county homes have evolved significantly in the intervening years. These locations are now being used for a wide array of different activities and purposes, ranging from housing estates to private health care...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am aware that the matter touches on the motion the Deputy tabled and I have already indicated in my response to the motion that it contains a number of proposals which I am considering and which we will facilitate and investigate. A certain amount of reflection and work is needed in order to make decisions to put in place the best response so that the whole truth is recovered. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am interested in Deputy Ó Laoghaire's comments on this matter. However, I will bring my response back to his original question to me. I will take up some of the other issues later in response to other questions. Again, regarding the question of making decisions to bring forward injunctions, the Deputy argues the Government has a responsibility to do so and that it is something we...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Administration (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Intense preparations are under way to deliver our ambitious goal of turning our child care system from one of the most expensive in the world to the best. What we are putting in place this year will benefit children and families for generations to come. It is vital we get this right. As the Deputy acknowledges, there is much work to do. The Deputy is well aware, as a member of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Administration (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her questions. My Department is taking responsibility for the scheme and, as I have indicated, we intend within the next short while to outline our answers to all the questions the Deputy asks. I accept, and I appreciate that she accepts, that significant and complex work must be done in respect of the IT system and that in order to do it we need more time than we had...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Administration (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I will bring that question back to my officials as part of our lengthy discussions about the various issues. I appreciate what the Deputy is saying. The focus is not only on the interim measures being clearly communicated so that everybody knows what to do and where but that they will allow the money be delivered to providers and it is there for parents in September 2017. In addition, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I accept that wages in the early years sector are unacceptably low and that working conditions are poor. This affects the quality of service offered to children. Addressing these issues is a priority concern for me as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. As my Department is not the employer, however, I have no direct control over wages or working conditions. Fundamentally, the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: It is great that the committee is doing this work because it provides another opportunity to hear those voices. I look forward to receiving the report because I know how committed the Deputy and her colleagues are in this regard. I have also met with a range of representative bodies from the sector regarding the issue of wages and working conditions, including representatives from the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am aware of the low wages in the sector. I am aware that the average wage is only just above the minimum wage and is below the living wage. I have done a lot of work in my political life to encourage us to move towards the living wage and would love to see the early years and education and care sector become an example of that, especially when 18% of staff are now qualified to level 7 or...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question and am very conscious that it has not been possible to publish the second interim report so far. This is for very good reasons and I can assure the House that I have no wish whatsoever to delay it unnecessarily. I want to publish this report as soon as possible and I briefed the Cabinet on the matter again this morning. I expect to be able to clarify the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I know exactly what I said in the Dáil. It is a great disappointment to me that I will not be able to deliver on that by the end of this month. The extension is due to the time required to respond to some of the report's recommendations in a different way than perhaps has been done in the past. This has proven extremely challenging. I am very happy to say that there is significant...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am being transparent in terms of the process. I appreciate that people would like to see it as soon as possible. I understand that as well as anyone in this Chamber because of the work that I have been doing on that report in regard to a number of survivors and advocates. It has probably taken more of my time in the past couple of months than anything else in the Department. In my...

Other Questions: DEIS Scheme (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: First, I want to welcome the publication of the Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools plan 2017. The DEIS plan aims to achieve a more robust assessment framework for identifying schools and allocating resources. It also seeks to support best practice in schools through inter-agency collaboration. The educational welfare service of Tusla will be very important in this regard. The...

Other Questions: DEIS Scheme (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am indicating in my answer that, as we move forward, it is not necessarily the case that DEIS and school completion will be coupled. I am saying we need to look at that again, in light of the DEIS review, its focus and its reform. I am not saying that we will necessarily decouple but the case the Deputy has put to me, and the Minister for Education and Skills also, needs to be listened to...