Results 4,701-4,720 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: Unfortunately, I cannot absolutely promise it right now, although I would like to be able to do so. Tusla and I acknowledge the excellent work of Cottage Home and the contribution it has made in providing residential and other services. Cottage Home came to Tusla with this request at a time in the year when resources had already been disbursed to other services Tusla provides in these and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I have tried to be very clear in my answers. I acknowledge the contribution Cottage Home has made. The organisation, or another or a combination of five or so organisations-----

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: -----may decide midway through the year that their funding resources are drying up and that they want the State to give them additional money, but there is a process for resourcing the services provided for children throughout the country, including in the Deputy's area. If they need moneys now which they did not need before, they have to go through the process Tusla offers. I have agreed...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Youth Services (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I pay tribute to the fine work of the many thousands of volunteers within the youth work system. The contribution of volunteers to youth services, projects and clubs is very significant and their commitment is crucial to the strong and diverse youth infrastructure which has been developed across the country. In recognition of the contribution volunteers make for young people, I announced a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Youth Services (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I always welcome the Deputy's passion for these issues, her commitment and the experience she brings. I acknowledge everything she has said about the contributions of volunteers and the additional burdens they face, some of which I understand are being addressed by my Department and the National Youth Council of Ireland. My Department met representatives of smaller national youth...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Youth Services (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank Deputy O'Sullivan. While I appreciate the concerns the Deputy brings with regard to the volunteers on whose behalf she speaks, and while I understand what the Deputy is saying, the example given is the person who has years of experience in volunteer work. Am I correct in hearing that even as we move towards having a system for the safety of young people and children of which Garda...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that the gross amount of funding being made available to my Department in 2019 will be €1.511 billion, which represents an increase of 9% over its allocation for 2018. The allocation includes a current provision of €1.479 billion and a capital allocation of €32 million. Just over half of the total funding, or €786 million, is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for his thoughtful question. I can certainly say that I feel very assured that when a child comes to the attention of Tusla, in the context of what is going on within the family, and if there is an immediate risk to the child's safety, the processes are in place for supporting the child and that the risk is removed. Subsequent to that, and with regard to the second...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: There are two arenas. There is the retrospective abuse case allegation with regard to the McCabe issue. The disclosures tribunal reported on that. The statutory investigation by HIQA also reported on that. In both cases, and certainly in the statutory investigation, the board put in place an action plan. I have met the board recently and it is working through that. We identified a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 8 and 24 together. A key recommendation of the Value for Money and Policy Review of Youth Funding Programmes was that we should amalgamate four existing funding schemes into a single targeted youth funding scheme. To provide continued funding to the youth sector during this process, sample projects were established across the State. There are now 23 such...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I share the Deputy's concern and I am pleased he raised this matter. He noted that the process of changing the way funding happens has taken some time and I acknowledge that. The research was done, the recommendations came and the sample projects are in place to ensure that youth services do not lose out when we move to the final points of the single targeted funding stream. The Deputy has...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services Funding (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: We are in the process of change. As I said, I share the Deputy's concern and understand what he is speaking about from the perspective of having done that work professionally. I also know that the people who are providing the service, the organisations that Deputy Curran is speaking about, largely have been participating in a process with my Department to try to do this in the best possible...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: The Government agreed an approach to dealing with the site of the mother and baby home in Tuam, County Galway, at its meeting of 23 October last. I am committed to leading this project. It is my view that a phased approach will mean an informed and targeted approach to the forensic excavation of the available area. In this way the logical sequence of complex technical, legal and forensic...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: To answer the Deputy's first question, I have not sought nor received any contribution from any other religious orders. To be perfectly clear, the reason we did this in this circumstance is specifically related to the site and the remains of the children there and because knowledge and evidence of that was referred to the Government and it responded. That is why I looked for resources. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I was at an extraordinary conference in Boston last week. It brought together many top-class Irish scholars as well as some international scholars. It was a privilege to be there, I learned a lot, and I am taking much of it into account as we move forward. On the legislation itself and whether that has the potential to form the basis for the use of a template or model for other sites,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her important question. The abuse suffered by these very brave young women while in foster care in the early 2000s is shocking, and I am very sorry that their lives were so disrupted and deeply impacted by it. The Deputy will appreciate that although the review was started in 2016, it was suspended during the criminal investigation and prosecution and only became...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate Deputy Connolly's frustration and the questions that she is raising. I do. My understanding is that a certain portion of the delay, as the Deputy is aware, is because of the criminal investigation. The national review panel was requested to pause, effectively, and now it is back working. I do not understand that it has to do with resources or people. The NRP is working...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: On the issues the Deputy raised about Tusla and its practices, as I referred to, the national review panel is independent of Tusla as well. It is also independent of me. I again appreciate the questions raised by Deputy Connolly. I indicated that I understand that the report will be delivered within a short time. I do not have any more information than that because it is operating...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I directed HIQA to carry out the report being referred to by the Deputy. HIQA made four key recommendations, one of which was to establish an expert quality assurance and oversight group to support and advise Tusla and the Department on the implementation of the recommendations of this investigation report, as well as the implementation of Tusla’s child protection and welfare strategy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency (7 Nov 2018)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy has articulated her concerns arising from the report of the disclosures tribunal with great passion and clarity, and I share them. The Deputy raised issues and Deputies mentioned other concerns when we discussed the findings of the disclosures tribunal the week before last. I raised them explicitly with the board of Tusla when I met it approximately two weeks ago, just before the...