Results 5,901-5,920 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Illegal Adoptions (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I would like to be able to do that but I do not feel I can, just right now. I do not know what it will say. Depending on what it says, that might mean I need more time with it. However, I absolutely commit that I will publish it. I accept the Deputy's other commentary. Not unlike the Deputy, I have people coming up to me who tell me their stories too. They have not any paperwork but...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The annual Pobal early years sector profile is based on a survey of all services which participate in State-funded early learning and care and school age childcare schemes. The latest report, containing data from May 2018, indicates that while the sector is experiencing significantly increased demand, it is broadly meeting this demand nationally. I am, however, fully aware of the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will address the first couple of issues there. As I said to some of the Deputy's colleagues, I appreciate that childcare is not yet fully affordable. That is because of decades of underinvestment in childcare. Even though we started from a very low base, we have 170% more investment in the development of a systematic effort over the last couple of years - to look at ways in which we can...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: My heart is with the Deputy in what he said. It is correct to say that we are going in a different direction. On the Deputy's comments on places, in answering a number of earlier questions, I have stated that we have a systematic approach, especially in our work with Pobal, to try to identify where we need to increase capacity so that the supply meets the demand. That does not sometimes...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 13 and 33 together. One of the key priorities for my Department's capital programme is supporting private and not-for-profit childcare providers to extend their existing services, or to establish new services, where the need or the demand exists. Each year my Department reviews the early learning, care and school age childcare sector to determine...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate what the Deputy said and he has drawn attention to these issues in particular areas previously. We are aware of that. Matching supply and demand is not an exact science, as the Deputy is well aware. I do not accept that in planning forward we have not identified, to the extent we can, where demand will surface and supply will need to be met. There are at least two factors...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: As for the identification of where the money will go and what it is for - let us say it is €9 million this time - our policy is to target the under-three cohort in particular this year. We know there is a capacity issue in that regard. That affects the design of the scheme. The assessment for capital applications also has regard to Pobal’s geosparsity index, which means we...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homeless Persons Data (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank Deputy Gino Kenny for asking my view on the devastating crisis of homelessness among children and young people. The fact that, as of March 2019, there are 1,733 families experiencing homelessness in Ireland, and 3,821 children and young people is, quite frankly, heartbreaking. Although ultimate responsibility for addressing the homelessness crisis rests with the Department of...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homeless Persons Data (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The question is not relevant to what we are looking at here but as an Independent member of the Government, I regularly review my participation with my Government partners. That is a fact. This is a significant issue. I have put forward a number of recommendations and suggestions, some of which the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government has taken on board, to increase security...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Homeless Persons Data (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I think I have already answered the question.

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Funding (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am pleased that we have managed to increase substantially our investment in childcare over the last few years. I want to continue increasing this investment but, in doing so, we must have an appropriate level of oversight and accountability. Subsidies for all early learning and care and school age childcare programmes are paid based on the level of attendance of a child. These rules...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Funding (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I certainly will take that point on board. I will investigate the issues Deputy Aylward has raised regarding services in his Carlow-Kilkenny constituency. The Deputy is stating he is being told that the service is going to be lost in light of the compliance audit. I expect that the Deputy accepts the basic principle that audits are required. I indicated that my Department has spent much...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Completion Programme (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am conscious that the school completion programme, SCP, continues to deliver a valuable service for some of our most vulnerable young people. Currently, the SCP receives annual funding of €24.7 million. My Department works with the educational welfare service, EWS, to ensure that necessary resources are available to support this programme and to ensure staffing levels are...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: School Completion Programme (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I do not know if there will be a rise in the numbers, so I cannot say "Yes" or "No" right now. I can state that we have had a really intensive focus on the education welfare service in general. It is part of Tusla. We started that focus, as Deputy Mitchell knows, with the review of the school completion programme itself. When I looked at it more deeply, however, I realised that we could...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I understand that the cost of €13,250 quoted by the Deputy relates to one young person living on their own for a specified period of time.  This young person has an exceptionally high level of complex needs and behaviours.  As a result, they need to be cared for in an environment without other young people present and with a high staff ratio.  The needs of this young...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her important question. Maintaining consistent high standards in residential care is a challenge across many jurisdictions where the work involves caring for adolescents, many with traumatic histories, complex behaviour and ambivalence about their placement.  Residential care is a small, but vital part of our care system and the basis for successful outcomes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I have noted many times how, historically, there has been very low levels of investment in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare in Ireland. Over the past four budgets however, we have increased investment substantially. It has risen from €260 to €575 million. This significant increase in investment has assisted with an unprecedented doubling of capacity in the sector...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Children First Act 2015, which was fully commenced in December 2017, provides for a number of key child protection measures.  These include raising awareness of child abuse and neglect, providing for reporting and management of child protection concerns and improving child protection arrangements in organisations providing services to children. The Act places a number of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Process (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 has passed Second Stage in the Seanad. I am hoping that Committee Stage in the Seanad will be scheduled for June, and thereafter, I intend to proceed to enactment as quickly as possible.  As I am sure the Deputy is aware, the Bill seeks to balance the rights to identity and to privacy, which sometimes conflict with one another. Given...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Data (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The role of the City of Dublin Youth Service Board (CDYSB) is to support the provision, co-ordination, administration and assessment of youth services in their functional area and to provide such information as may be required by myself as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. As the Deputy is aware the CDYSB is a committee of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board. As such, any...