Results 2,241-2,260 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: For the purposes of this reply, "removed from employment" is taken as referring to dismissal. The information sought by the Deputy was requested from Tusla. Tusla has informed me that since establishment on 1 January, 2014, 4 contracts have been terminated on grounds of dismissal. I have requested further information from Tusla in relation to this matter. Receipt of this information...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: In 2017, funding of €57.4m has been provided to my Department for various youth schemes, an increase of €5.5m over 2016. The additional funding is being used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth organisations in their work to support local voluntary youth services. My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy may be aware, the Castlepollard Mother and Baby Home is one of the 14 Mother and Baby Homes included within the scope of the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes. However, it is essential to recognise that the Commission is independent in the performance of its functions. Therefore, the precise approach to its investigation is a matter for the Commission to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme Eligibility (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy will be aware, my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills is responsible for the 2002 Residential Institutions Redress Act. However, I understand that when the Ryan Report was published in 2009 there were a number of calls for the Redress Scheme to be extended to include additional institutions, including the Bethany Home. The decision regarding extending the Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Education Welfare Service (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that its Educational Welfare Service (EWS) has responsibility to ensure that every child attends school regularly, or otherwise receives a certain minimum education, to support regular school attendance, tackle problems of absenteeism and to provide an educational welfare service. The EWS receives referrals from school authorities, parents and others relating to concerns...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that it is committed to the leasing of new modern office space at Shannonside Retail Park in Carrick-on-Shannon. As previously highlighted, these new premises will provide easy access to the public and will accommodate the expansion of Tusla staff and services for local communities. There have been some delays in the development of this office space due to issues in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Protected Disclosures Data (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department is committed to fostering an appropriate environment for dealing with protected disclosures under the 2014 Act. In this regard, my Department has adopted the guidelines provided by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in processing any protected disclosure received. My Department has developed a draft set of guidelines for guidance in these matters and staff are...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Education Welfare Service (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that its Educational Welfare Service (EWS) has responsibility to ensure that every child attends school regularly, or otherwise receives a certain minimum education, to support regular school attendance, tackle problems of absenteeism and to provide an educational welfare service. The EWS receives referrals from school authorities, parents and others relating to concerns...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The area of child protection and welfare social work is one of the most challenging areas of work for any professional and involves working closely with some of the most vulnerable and marginalised individuals and groups in society. To this end, I would like to acknowledge the dedication of colleagues in Tusla to improving the lives of children and families that access our services. As...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Insurance Costs (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not have conventional insurance cover and operates under a State indemnity, a self insurance model whereby the State bears the financial risks associated with the cost of claims. The State indemnity is operated by the National Treasury Management Agency who acts as the State Claims Agency. All my Department's claims are delegated for management to this agency. This...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Preschool Services (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which is a new programme of supports to enable children with a disability to access and fully participate in the free pre-school programme, is administered by Pobal on behalf of this Department. The degree of support provided depends on the needs of the child availing of ECCE, in the context of the pre-school service registered with my Department. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Juvenile Offenders (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Children Act 2001, as amended, provides the statutory basis for dealing with children who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The key principle of the Children Act 2001 is that detention of a child should only be imposed as a last resort. When children come into contact with the criminal justice system there is an emphasis on the promotion of community based options in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Cafés Expenditure (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: In recent years capital funding has been made available to my Department for the development of youth café facilities. Youth Cafés offer young people a safe, alcohol and drug free space, for recreation, non-formal learning and youth activities and they make an important contribution to facilities for young people at local level. Recent research undertaken by my Department...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that for reasons of confidentiality, they cannot provide specific details with regards to suspension of staff.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Affordable Childcare Scheme will provide childcare subsidies for both full-time and part-time childcare, including after-school childcare. While the number of hours of childcare subsidised per week will be capped at a maximum of 40 (or 15 for families in which a parent is neither engaged in work nor in study), it is not intended that there will be any minimum number of hours of childcare...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the matter in question relates to a contractual matter, I have referred the question for direct response by Tusla to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I understand the Deputy is referring to the Regulations made in 2016 which require that all staff members working directly with children in pre-school services must hold at least a major award in early childhood care and education at level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework, or a qualification deemed by the Minister to be equivalent. This requirement came into effect for...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Revised Estimate for my Department for 2017 provides a gross funding provision of €1.311 billion. This represents an increase of €173 million, or 16%, over my Department’s 2016 allocation. In this regard, the Deputy might note that Youth Services will receive an additional €5.5m over their 2016 allocation. As a result, youth services have an overall budget...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 623, 624 and 627 together. Children First National Guidance (2011) gives advice for notifying Tusla of situations where abuse is suspected. A range of professionals including teachers, nurses, early years educators, Gardaí and other health professionals, who see children regularly, are in a good position to identify children at risk. Where someone...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Functions (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The nature of my Department's work is significantly oriented towards policy development and co-ordination of actions across agencies, rather than dealing with individual cases. Accordingly my Department has no formal investigative functions or structures of the type that the Deputy may have in mind. There are of course systems for dealing with issues raised by members of the public under...