Results 621-640 of 11,700 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic Violence Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy raised a number of big questions. When the Cabinet discussed the move to level 5, the Minister for Justice and Equality and I spent a significant part of the meeting discussing the specific issue of domestic violence and reactivating the various Garda and Tusla programmes that were in place to support the victims across this period. During the original Covid-19 lockdown, it...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic Violence Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has undertaken research on the impact of the lockdown on young children. We carried out detailed research with SpunOut, How's your Head, which was both qualitative and quantitative in nature and by means of which we engaged with thousands of young people. The outcome of that influenced the Framework for Reopening and Operating Schools that was launched some months ago,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The HIVE is part of the new early years platform which Pobal uses to administer the various early learning and childcare schemes. It is a self-service portal which has been designed to be accessible, intuitive and meet the current and the future needs of service providers. To date, for this programme year, September 2020 to August 2021, there are almost 130,000 children registered on the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I cannot disagree with anything the Deputy said. I am not making excuses but there is a context in terms of Covid-19 whereby a significant change is being made to a system. Training and significant online seminars were provided to providers but, understandably, many of the latter were focused on reopening, putting in place the Perspex screens and spending the capital grants we had given...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Part of the organisational review I spoke about earlier - the three pieces of work - is to look at the overall infrastructure, whether there are elements of duplication and how we can make the system better and more streamlined. Part of that work is ongoing and, in fairness, my Department identified that there are issues in that regard. As regards the initial setting up in the HIVE, once...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The NCS was launched in November 2019. There are currently 33,700 children accessing NCS subsidies. In addition, there are children benefiting from the legacy schemes also. The online application process was designed to be accessible and user-friendly, although I acknowledge that not everybody found it so. The flexibility of the NCS means that the scheme is designed to recognise that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. The ECCE scheme involves a flat rate per child. The really good point about the NCS is that the subsidy can be tailored to the particular child. The NCS gives greater subsidies to those children who are most in need because of their familial circumstances. Therefore, the amount that each provider is getting has to be linked to the particular child, and that is done...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has been providing a substantial amount of money to all childcare providers across the country this year though the employment wage subsidy scheme and predecessor schemes to reduce greatly the burden of paying staff. I hope that same system will not be needed next year, assuming we move away from the current Covid circumstances. Where there are problems, both Pobal and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: City and County Child Care Committees (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. Officials of my Department are reviewing the Workplace Relations Commission's consideration of the pay rates of the managers of the CCCs. The CCCs comprise one of the key support mechanisms of my Department. I acknowledge the important role they play in providing support and guidance to early learning and care and school-age childcare providers and parents. The CCCs act...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: City and County Child Care Committees (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I met with representatives from SIPTU once in respect of this matter. I have met with those representatives in the context of wider engagement with the childcare sector on a number of occasions. I met with representatives of ICTU once. This specific issue did not arise in those contexts. I am happy to address it if it does come up. There is a need for increased trade union representation...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: City and County Child Care Committees (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: As regards the specific situation of the managers, there is a process in train and I am happy to update the Deputy on that and to engage with that process. On the wider issue of pay across the sector, we discussed this issue extensively during questions raised earlier by a number of Deputies. The funding model work is examining how we can target funding towards goals such as reducing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will focus on elements that Tusla has undertaken as the child and family agency and set out the work it has done. During the first four weeks following the restrictions, there was a significant reduction of 36% in the number of referrals to Tusla. At that point, Tusla rolled out a significant information campaign across social media and traditional media as well, reminding the public that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla identified three core priorities during the lockdown, domestic violence, children in residential care and their ongoing interaction with their parents and children in foster care as well. It focused all its resources in those particular areas. We have had the opportunity to discuss the specific supports provided for domestic violence services to ensure that they had additional staff,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Equality Issues (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a question on the issue of equality. In recent years, Ireland has taken some significant steps towards addressing inequality across the country. The programme for Government commits to building on this progress to ensure that everyone living in Ireland enjoys full equality. Following the transfer last week to my Department of functions formerly in the Department of Justice and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Equality Issues (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is not enough time to talk about the range of issues that fall within the equality brief and the range of challenges. I am incredibly excited to hold this brief. It is an area I am and have been very passionate about throughout all of my life, including prior to my involvement in politics. There is a very detailed section in the programme for Government on equality and all of these...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Childcare Scheme (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is the third to raise issues with the hive system today. Again, I acknowledge there have been problems. I believe some of these problems are specific to the Covid-19 context we are in, but I also acknowledge that the response could have been better. We have to learn from that for the registration scheme next year. The information technology system used to administer...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Ensuring affordability for parents availing of Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a priority for my Department. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, my Department has provided special funding streams to support providers through this difficult time. These funding streams have aimed at minimising the need for providers to raise parental fees in the current circumstances,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla uses a commissioning model of funding to ensure that all available resources are used by the frontline services it funds to improve outcomes for children and families, in an efficient, effective, and fair way. As part of this process, Tusla: - analyses the needs of a service area, - consults stakeholders, - considers its available resources and statutory duties, and - assesses what...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The strategic review of emergency accommodation for victims of domestic violence that Tusla is currently undertaking is due to be fully completed by Quarter 2 next year. I had hoped that it would be ready by the end of this year but the impact of Covid resulted in the diversion of all available capacity to managing the issues arising for refuges and service users. Substantial...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 38 and 59 together. I am very conscious of the need for significant improvement in pay and working conditions for practitioners in early learning and care and school-age childcare services. The level of pay they receive does not reflect the value of the work they do for children, for families, and for wider society. In addition, low pay and poor working...