Results 6,501-6,520 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: On 15th September, I launched Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare. This new funding model supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good, for quality and affordability for children, parents and families as well as stability and sustainability for providers. Together for Better brings together three major programmes, the Early...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The programme runs from September to June each year and is aligned with the primary school calendar. There are currently in excess of 106,000 children enrolled on the ECCE programme The accompanying spreadsheet shows ECCE funding, by...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Deputy, as of 12 December 2022, there are 764 International Protection applicants currently accommodated in the Citywest Convention Centre. Of that number, 68 are under 18 years of age. As of today, there are almost 18,000 people accommodated in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation system as a whole. At this point in 2021, there were approximately 7,250...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 192 and 193 together. My department has secured funding under the revised National Development Plan for the Building Blocks Capital Programme, which is being designed to meet current and long-term Early Learning and Childcare infrastructure needs. This Programme includes three Pillars: 1. A €9 million Improvement Grant to improve energy efficiency...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Following my announcement of the hot meals pilot scheme on the 22ndof November, my Department are collaborating with Pobal to recruit nine services as pilot sites. Given that a large number of settings already provide this service, the aim of this pilot is to provide an in-depth, qualitative test of the logistics and impact of hot meal provision across other types of setting. Additionally,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Government is investing significantly in the early learning and childcare sector and there is an ambitious new funding model being introduced to improve stability and sustainability for providers. There are supports, financial and otherwise, available to services who need them. On 15th September, I launched Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Social Media (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Social Media Advertising Spend for Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth 2021/2022 Year Platform Spend (€) 2022 Facebook 10,458 LinkedIn 22,259 Twitter 2,412 Total 35,129 ...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will speak to amendments Nos. 25 to 27, which address wardship transitional arrangements. Where a wardship application is being processed to completion, as part of these transitional arrangements there is nothing to prevent a person who is the subject of a wardship application from appointing a decision supporter under the 2015 Act. Where an appropriate decision support is appointed, the...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: In the Dáil we inserted a section. We are ending wardship and introducing a new system. There are certain people who have begun the process of a wardship, who are probably some of the most vulnerable people to have begun that process. We want to ensure they can work their way through the wardship process, get the protections, and also be in a position to exit into the new system. We...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 28 clarifies the title of a new section being introduced by the Bill. The title will now reflect that the section of the Bill amending the Civil Legal Aid Act 1995 relates to Part 6 of the 2015 Act only. Part 6 of the Act is the Part of the Act which deals with wardship. This is a technical amendment for the purposes of improving the text of the final Act.

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 29 corrects a cross-referencing matter in the Bill relating to enduring power of attorney, EPA. The amendment will remove a cross-reference to section 62 of the 2015 Act, which is being repealed by the Bill. This is a technical amendment for the purposes of improving the text of the final Act.

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Right now, there is a legal challenge to the existing system-----

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: -----as the Deputy is aware. It is in the back of our minds that the ward of court system is both in breach of the UNCRPD and possibly unconstitutional as well. As the Deputy probably knows, the original Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act was brought in in 2015. It was passed by both Houses and enacted, but the processes were never set up. The Decision Support Service never came into...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 30 replaces an incorrect word in the amendment of section 73 of the Act. The word "subsection" is being replaced by "subject", which will clarify the meaning of the relevant paragraph. This is a technical amendment that will improve the final text of the Bill.

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 36 modifies a particular cross-reference relating to EPA regulations. The modification will correct a cross-reference in section 79 of the 2015 Act, which is necessary because of the changes previously made to the Bill. This is a technical amendment that will improve the final text of the Bill.

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No, 37 provides for a regulation-making power to allow for EPAs executed under the Power of Attorney Act 1996 to be registered under the 2015 Act. That will allow those persons who have already gone to the trouble of creating an EPA to register it with the DSS under the 2015 Act, which provides for more efficient procedures and more robust safeguards than the 1996 Act....

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Many Deputies spoke to me in the process of this legislation. Deputy Mattie McGrath mentioned in some of the earlier debates the very difficult cases in which people have been caught up, the lack of appropriate legislation that existed or, indeed, the wardship process, which is an incredibly blunt process. The whole thrust behind what we are trying to do is create a decision support service...

Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: From the Seanad (14 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 38 provides a regulation to make power for my colleague, the Minister for Health, to establish a register of advanced healthcare directives under the 2015 Act. This register will be maintained by the decision support service and will support the alignment of Part 8 of the Act with other parts governing decision support arrangements. The amending provisions will also specify...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (15 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department secured Dormant Accounts funding for the Initiative which was designed to run over the period 2021 to 2022. Funding was made available to applicants from all 16 Education and Training Board functional areas. The time limited nature of the initiative and the overall duration of funding available was advised to all successful applicants from the outset as part of the terms and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Adoption Services (15 Dec 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Officials from my Department have been engaging with both the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI) and the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, in respect of the ongoing implementation of services under the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022. Information and Tracing services, as provided for under the Act, opened to applications on 03 October 2022. As of 12 December, a total of 5,956...