Results 2,861-2,880 of 3,777 for speaker:Marc Ó Cathasaigh
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I asked that question because the next question is how we plan to respond. What is Tusla's policy position on State provision versus community and voluntary versus private provision? Is it a stated goal of Tusla to move towards public provision?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Were those special emergency arrangement, SEA, units?
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I have a response to a parliamentary question submitted by my colleague, Deputy Costello, on the number of residentials managed by Tusla or its predecessor agencies since 2013. In 2014, when Tusla was founded, the figure was 44. In 2023, the figure was 39.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That shows me a direction of travel that is not in the correct one.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I am looking at the non-pay expenditure for 2018 to 2020 in the briefing note prepared by the secretariat, which is very helpful to all of us. The expenditure, say, on foster and aftercare allowances, flatlined or looks pretty much dead flat. Office administration was in and around the same. There was a slight increase in expenditure on community and voluntary charitable organisations.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The expenditure that is going through the roof - the red line - is independent placement provision. I object even to the language of that because it obfuscates what we are actually talking about, which is private.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: A phrase that I found in the documentation, which I boked at quite honestly, is "private, for-profit sector providers". The idea of "for-profit" when it comes to some of our most vulnerable children sticks in my craw. It has been said that we have this objective to flip the ratio in terms of public and private provision but I am not seeing residential unit places coming. I have seen a...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I have no doubt. I am not casting any aspersions on them but I just do not think the care of our most vulnerable children is an area where we should be applying profit over it.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I read the Proclamation as I pass through the foyer and the obligation we are supposed to have is to care for all the children of the State. On foster provision, during my teaching career I taught a number of foster children. I also met foster parents who do an unbelievable job. My God, they should be better supported because they do an incredible job. I have seen the wonderful work...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: Foster care is the best outcome and best value for money. It does not matter what type of lens one applies to foster care, if we get more foster parents into the system and better support them then we will get better outcomes for children and for the State.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: What are we doing to provide the resources, and into public foster care placements, rather than private?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: The Cathaoirleach has changed my plan for how I am going to direct my questions, but he is the boss. I acknowledge the fantastic work that both of the organisations do. I will direct most of my questions to people from EnergyCloud Ireland. I might come back to Mr. Boland afterwards. I know Senator Garvey will be anxious to interrogate his work. I very much agree with what he said about...
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: It is an enormous distributed battery.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I asked about the installation process. Mr. Mullins gave me lots of enormously interesting information but the Cathaoirleach is going to shut me up at some stage.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I would appreciate an answer to the installation question.
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: If EnergyCloud is installing this device in my home, how much does it cost? I know it does not cost the householder anything, but how much does it cost? How long does it take? What information do we get back from the device?
- Joint Oireachtas Committee on Social Protection: Energy Poverty: Discussion (Resumed) (21 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: One hour and a quick hoover and it is done.
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I will focus initially on residential care and fostering. I accept that the explosion in demand in the special emergency arrangements is probably unpredictable in the sense that we have seen enormous numbers of people arriving on out shores. It is saddening to think of a child travelling without a guardian and requiring that level of service and intervention. I accept that is broadly...
- Public Accounts Committee: Financial Statements 2022 - Tusla-Child and Family Agency (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That is why I would much if we provided this care through the State.
- Select Committee on Housing, Planning and Local Government: Planning and Development Bill 2023: Committee Stage (Resumed) (29 Feb 2024)
Marc Ó Cathasaigh: I move amendment No. 121: In page 58, between lines 11 and 12, to insert the following: “ “community garden” means an area of land made available to members of the community for collective gardening purposes for personal or local consumption of produce and is operated otherwise than with a view to making profit, to be prescribed in regulations as “community...