Results 3,541-3,560 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Written Answers — Court Proceedings: Court Proceedings (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Independent Child Death Review Group highlighted in its report what it considers to be the restrictive nature of the in camera rule and the fact that court proceedings relating to child welfare and protection cases are held in private. The Review Group called for a review of the operation of the rule. I believe there is scope for more transparency in this area. We need to put in place a...

Written Answers — Independent Child Death Review Group: Independent Child Death Review Group (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The work of the Independent Child Death Review Group was completed upon the production of its final draft report. I want to commend the authors for the professional and painstaking work they did to produce a report of such high quality. The Review Group was asked to present key details of each case where the individual died from unnatural causes, but to anonymise the report so that the...

Written Answers — Children and Family Services: Children and Family Services (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: In preparation for the establishment of the new Child and Family Support Agency work is under way on disaggregating the Children and Families budget from within the overall HSE financial determination. This necessary work will be completed in the latter half of 2012 in preparation for the planned establishment of the new agency early in 2013. The 2012 budget provision for Children and...

Written Answers — Children in Care: Children in Care (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I have been advised by the HSE that at the end of May 2012, there were 6,282 children in care. The following is a breakdown by HSE Area and care settings Residential & Foster Care National HSE DML HSE DNE HSE South HSE West No. of children in care by care type 6,282 1,567 1,483 1,884 1,348 Residential: Special Care 18 8 4 2 4 Residential:High Support 20 6 2 9 3 Residential: General...

Written Answers — Child Protection: Child Protection (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The HSE has advised that it does not apply a standardised number of cases per individual social worker. However, an indicative range would be in the region of 15-25 cases per social worker. Actual variations in caseloads are dependent on the complexities of the individual cases, and whether the cases are in relation to child protection or children in care. There is, in general, a higher...

Written Answers — Child Protection: Child Protection (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The HSE's 2010 Review of Adequacy provided information on reported incidents of physical abuse, sexual abuse and neglect. Such information has informed learning about the impact of neglect, the benefits of early intervention, the serious impact of adult addiction on children's welfare and the issues that present for older teenagers with high risk behaviours, including suicide. What is...

Written Answers — Health Service Executive Reports: Health Service Executive Reports (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Review of Adequacy of Services Report for Children and Families for 2009 and 2010 were laid before both Houses of the Oireachtas and published on the HSE's website, in June 2012. I am advised by the HSE that it is expects to submit the report for 2011 to me by the fourth quarter of this year.

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The maximum grant available was €50,000 (including VAT). The aim of the funding is to provide support to child care settings to address remedial, maintenance and renovation work, or to purchase equipment. Following a robust appraisal, 290 applications were approved for funding. Unfortunately it is not possible to isolate the applications concerning the particular problems referred to in...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 58 together. I would like to advise the Deputy that the provision of education falls within the remit of the Minister for Education and Skills in accordance with the provisions of the Education Act, 1998. With regard to the specific case raised by the Deputy, the Department of Education and Skills has advised that an appeal against a decision by the...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: My Department currently administers three support programmes - the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme provides funding to community child care not-for-profit services to enable them to charge reduced child...

Written Answers — Children and Family Services: Children and Family Services (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Two out-of-hours pilot projects, one in Donegal and the other in Cork, were commenced by the HSE in 2011. The Donegal project started mid-year and the Cork project started in the third quarter. Both projects were internally evaluated by the HSE, which then commissioned an independent external assessment, undertaken by Trinity College Dublin. This external assessment has been completed and...

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Positive discussions recently took place between a visiting delegation of senior officials from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and the Adoption Authority of Ireland. The discussions lead to finalisation on the contents of administrative arrangements for the resumption of adoptions between Ireland and Vietnam. I have invited the Vietnamese Minister for Justice, Mr. Ha Hung Cuong, to visit...

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: In the first instance, I would like to make a clear distinction between the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information) Bill and the draft Heads of the Children First Bill. These two Bills and the National Vetting Bureau Bill are part of a suite of complementary legislative proposals to strengthen child protection. The focus of the Withholding Bill is on the responsibility of all citizens...

Written Answers — Child Protection: Child Protection (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Since taking office last year, it has been evident to me that there is a particular need to improve the quality and accuracy of information available from the HSE in relation to child protection services, together with a need to provide more timely and meaningful information. The introduction of the National Child Care Information System will help to greatly improve performance in this area....

Written Answers — Education Welfare Service: Education Welfare Service (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 419 and 420 together. The National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), under the auspices of my Department, has a statutory remit to ensure that 'each child attends a recognised school or otherwise receives a certain minimum education'. In particular, the NEWB has a key role to respond to instances where children are not attending school regularly, or where...

Written Answers — School Absenteeism: School Absenteeism (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 421 and 423 together. Under the Education (Welfare) Act, 2000 all recognised schools are obliged to submit an Annual Attendance Report to the National Educational Welfare Board (NEWB), which is under the remit of my Department, on the levels of school attendance each year. I recently launched the report for the 2009/2010 school year. The report contains a...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Children First National Guidance for the Protection and Welfare of Children, which I published in 2011, provides clarity and guidance for individuals and organisations in identifying and responding appropriately to child abuse and neglect. It also sets out what organisations that care for or work with children should do to ensure they are safe whilst in the care of the organisation. The...

Written Answers — Foreign Adoptions: Foreign Adoptions (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Adoptions from Russia, effected under the transitional arrangements provided for in the Adoption Act 2010, are ongoing and are currently being examined, and recognised, by the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI). Under the provisions of the legislation, such adoptions may take place up to the end of October 2013. As regards adoptions thereafter, Russia has not ratified the Hague...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: All agencies under the aegis of my Department have detailed sick leave policies in place to manage time and attendance matters, including absenteeism due to sickness. The policies include procedures for staff and management to follow in recording and addressing sick leave levels. These arrangements recognise that staff may from time to time encounter challenges to their health and...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (10 Jul 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme was introduced in January 2010 and provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children in the year before commencing primary school. About 65,000 children, that is approximately 95% of children in the year before school, are availing of the free pre-school provision at this time. In 2011, the ECCE programme cost approximately...