Results 6,121-6,140 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services Regulation (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: My Department is working very closely with the city and county childcare committees to ensure the recruitment this summer of a team of regional childminding development officers. I understand that we have the national person in place. The immediate task of the regional development officers will be to work with all of the city and county childcare committees to maximise the number of...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services Regulation (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy's question centres much on the public consultation. As I said, we will publish the draft action plan relatively soon. I do not have an exact date. It is then that the public consultation process will take place. It will be a full public consultation over the coming months, which will be relatively soon. The responses to that will assist my Department in finalising the action...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Recreational Facilities Provision (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The capital grant funding scheme in my Department for play and recreation was introduced in 2013 to support the development or refurbishment of play and recreation facilities. A total of €250,000 was provided each year between 2013 and 2018 for new and innovative play and recreation spaces and facilities, with a maximum grant allocation of €20,000 per local authority. Each...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Recreational Facilities Provision (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I completely agree with the Deputy on the importance of this funding for play areas and that more are developed to offer the opportunity consistently for refurbishment and development. This is the purpose of the funding. The Deputy referred to only three playgrounds with regard to Tipperary. In 2019, our investment went from €250,000 in 2018 to €450,000, which is a...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Recreational Facilities Provision (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I certainly agree that it is important to maintain and service facilities. Some funding goes towards upgrading them. As the Deputy indicates, there has been ongoing and really good engagement between the local authority play and recreation network, my Department, and other local authorities. We need to take account of his suggestion that some of the investment go towards ongoing servicing,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The OECD's 2017 Faces of Joblessness report compared the childcare supports for lone parents previously available in Ireland with the expected impact of the national childcare scheme. It found significant improvement for lone parents. It found that, for certain lower-paid lone parents working full time, the scheme will bring net childcare costs down from being the highest across the OECD to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The first point I will make is that we have outside evidence and analysis that suggests a significant number of lone-parent families will be better off after the introduction of the national childcare scheme. Let us get that word out there. That is really important. Outside evidence being given to my Department supports the analysis it has done of the impact of the national childcare...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will answer that question. It is a very good suggestion. I have had discussion with my officials in recent weeks on the need to prepare for that and on the potential need for more ongoing communication with a wider group of lone parents because of the concerns raised by some of the advocacy groups. With regard to the Deputy's first input, we have heard the concerns of SPARK, other...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Family Resource Centres (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Over 121 family resource centres, FRCs, provide an invaluable service to children and families. I have provided money for FRCs to employ an extra 17 staff. Tusla provides financial support to FRCs to fund the salaries of a core staff complement and to cover some of their overheads. I have allocated an additional €4.5 million in funding for the family resource centre programme...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Family Resource Centres (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am committed to increasing investment in family resource centres and certainly will be seeking an increase in the Estimates process. The way in which I decided to utilise the €1.5 million increase this year demonstrates that there are various ways in which we can provide the support FRCs require. One of them is, and this gets to the heart of what the Deputy is asking, a 5% increase...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Family Resource Centres (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will not even begin to compete with the Deputy's mathematical abilities. Their current core funding from Tusla will increase by 5%. My understanding is that they can use it in whatever way they decide to use it. Second, from a staff perspective we are also investing in one family support worker in each region to add to the complement of staff working in the family resource area. That...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Irish Language (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate the Deputy asking his question in the language I can understand. I am very conscious of the value of supporting the provision of services in the Irish language to children at an early age and of the role early learning and care services can play in promoting Irish as a living language, which is the subject of the Deputy's comment. My Department has committed to a range of actions...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Irish Language (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I take the Deputy's point. As he can appreciate, I felt it was important to identify the ways in which we are responding and supporting Irish-medium childcare settings, as well as Irish-speaking parents who want to see Irish being utilised in the development of the national childcare scheme. That is important and more needs to be done in light of the various action plans that have come out,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Irish Language (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I take the Deputy's point. I get what he is saying and agree with his arguments. The report from the Joint Committee on the Irish Language, the Gaeltacht and the Islands is more focused on Irish-speaking educational and early educational settings. However, one of its recommendations is that the Department of Education and Skills should create specific posts in order to develop further...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Irish Language (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will bring that clear recommendation on early years settings back to my Department. There are also some suggestions on the ways in which both Irish-medium and non-Irish medium early years settings can share best practices with each other in order to support the development of children learning the language. I will bring the Deputy's general recommendations back to my Department, which is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Abuse Prevention (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I assure the Deputy that every referral to Tusla's Child Welfare and Protection Services is assessed by social workers when it is received. Cases of suspected child abuse referred to Tusla can be categorised into four different types: neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse. Between 2016 and the end of April 2019, there have been almost 180,000 referrals to Tusla’s...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Abuse Prevention (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: That is an excellent supplementary question. I am satisfied that the appropriate actions are being taken, particularly in high priority cases where children are at immediate risk and there is potential abuse or harm going on, as distinct from cases involving child welfare concerns. There is a child protection concern in the former. I have described the system that is in place and that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Abuse Prevention (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Given the Deputy's phrasing of the question, I would answer "Yes". The specific role of Tusla is to promote the welfare of children who are at risk of not receiving adequate care and protection, as the Deputy will be aware. Some 40% of the referrals relate to child sexual abuse concerns. An Garda Síochána will deal with any criminal aspects of that sexual offence against a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Abuse Reports (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question. The NRP summary report into this serious and distressing case was published on 28 May. The report provides a sober, full account of what happened, and a clear analysis of the failures that occurred in managing the case. In particular, the report finds that there was enough evidence at the time of the disclosure, in 2007, to warrant the removal...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Abuse Reports (10 Jul 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy. I made a brief reference to this in my earlier reply to Deputy Durkan in that we have worked for some time to develop that model, which we are naming as One House, and which we hope will open in September. We had hoped to do this a little earlier but it has taken longer to bring together such an innovative model arising from recommendations from such an incident. It...