Results 5,181-5,200 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Policy (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, recognises that some parents, including those with a disability, may need additional support and special consideration in respect of their disabilities and their parenting capacity. The Child Protection and Welfare Practice Handbook outlines that, in circumstances where a parent/carer has a disability, it is likely that there may be a number of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The statutory Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters) is tasked with examining burial arrangements for persons who died while resident in these institutions. My Department is not separately investigating these matters. In its fourth interim report, which I published last week, the Commission reiterates the significant challenge of investigating...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Government policy relating to the new Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS) was informed by evidence and with the best interests of children and families in mind. The legislation supporting the scheme, the Childcare Support Act 2018, was the subject of much discussion in the Houses and many elements of the policy were considered by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children on a number of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: In 2018, €303.4m was allocated for the funding of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Scheme. This level of funding facilitated the attendance of c. 119,000 children in the ECCE pre-school programme. In 2019, €298.1m has been allocated for the ECCE scheme based on an anticipated c. 109,000 children registering with ECCE providers. It should be noted that a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: €298.1m has been allocated to the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme in 2019. Currently, children registered on ECCE receive 15 hours of free pre-school education per week. Should the 15 hour entitlement be increased by 2 hours per week to a total of 17 hours per week, this would result in an estimated additional cost of €39.7m in 2019. Should the 15 hour entitlement be...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Process (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I confirm that no piece of legislation (including Heads of Bills) from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs have been sent to EU institutions before their publication. In relation to the Miscellaneous Provisions (Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union on 29 March 2019) Bill 2019, and Brexit Preparedness and Contingency planning more generally, the Government...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I have no plans to bring forward legislation to amend the Residential Institutions Redress Act 2002. As the Deputy will be aware, my colleague the Minister for Education and Skills is responsible for this legislation and related arrangements. The redress scheme established under this act has not been extended to any additional institutions since 2005. I understand that when the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: My Department was first established in 2011. As the Deputy is aware my Department, along with all government departments, was required to deliver substantial savings on all funding programmes in line with the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure 2012-2014. However, my Department sought to ensure front line youth services, particularly those for the most vulnerable young people, were...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (29 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question. I met with Dr. Shannon after the publication of his report to better understand the intent of the recommendations it contained, and to seek clarity on the measures that would be applied to assess their implementation. Following these discussions Dr. Shannon and I agreed the Action Plan. I am pleased to report progress has been made on the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, publish figures on placement stability in the annual Review of Adequacy report. The most recent Review of Adequacy, for 2016, was published in 2018. At the end of December 2016, there were 169 children in their third or greater placement within the previous 12 months. This amounts to about 2.7% of children in care at the end of 2016. The comparable in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 243 and 246 together. I understand the Deputy to be asking about the number of children who have had a single foster care or residential care placement during their time in care. I therefore propose to answer on the basis of data available on placement stability. Depending on the reason for admission to care or the circumstances, a child may initially be...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I can inform the Deputy that data on the placement of children under 12 in residential care is published in Tusla's annual Review of Adequacy report, which is published annually in arrears. The most recently published Review of Adequacy relates to the year 2016. In general, Tusla endeavour to place children under 12 in foster care. I understand that in 2016 there were some 3,672 children...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 245 and 247 together. I can inform the Deputy that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, use the number of placements a child has in a year as an indicator of placement stability. Data on placement stability is published in Tusla's annual Review of Adequacy report, which is published annually in arrears. The most recently published Review of Adequacy relates to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The CAHMS service is provided by the HSE. The Deputy may wish to redirect this question to my colleague, the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Records Provision (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am aware that there is an estimated 50,000 records relating to adoption that are not in the custody of either Tusla or the Adoption Authority of Ireland. The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 provides for the Adoption Authority of Ireland to be responsible for collecting, restoring, preserving and safekeeping adoption records, including information relating to persons whose...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Illegal Adoptions (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The progress made regarding contacting those affected by the cases of illegal birth registrations discovered in the St. Patrick's Guild records is a matter for Tusla. The process of contacting and then supporting those affected is being handled very carefully, on a case by case basis, and at the pace of the individual concerned. Tusla has advised me that all those affected, who have been...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Illegal Adoptions (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 251 and 252 together. The review carried out by the Adoption Authority of Ireland that the Deputy refers to related to applications it received to the National Adoption Contact Preference Register, and other cases which it had been notified of. In these cases the only exercise the Adoption Authority could carry out was to ascertain if an adoption record...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Measures (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is my intention to progress to Committee Stage of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 in the Seanad Éireann as quickly as possible. It is intended that a number of Government amendments will be proposed at Committee Stage or Report Stage. These are currently being finalised. Some of these amendments seek to address concerns raised about elements of the Bill during the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Illegal Adoptions (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Following the discovery of cases of illegal registration in the Saint Patrick's Guild records, I initiated a targeted review of adoption records. The purpose of this review is to determine if similar evidence of illegal registration can be identified from the records of other former adoption agencies and other relevant bodies. This review process is being carried by the Adoption Authority...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Illegal Adoptions (30 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Yes, I have received two interim reports from the Independent Reviewer, which I have reviewed and which have been published on the Department's website. These reports set out an overview of the methodological approach being taken. As the Deputy will be aware, I initiated this targeted review of adoption records following the discovery of cases of illegal registration in the Saint...