Results 6,861-6,880 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Abuse (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Statutory and operational responsibility for the delivery of child protection and welfare services is a matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Deputy is seeking information in relation to an operational matter for Tusla. Consequently, I have referred the matter to Tusla, and requested that a direct response be provided to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Revised Estimates for Public Services 2023, published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, detail gross expenditure of almost €3.3 billion in respect of my Department for 2023. These Estimates have just been approved by Select Committee and will be voted on in the Dáil shortly. This allocation represents an increase of €463m (16%) over the 2022...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Rights of the Child (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a matter for my cabinet colleague, the Minister for Justice, as the court services are under her remit.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As this is an operational matter for Tusla. I have referred the question to Tusla for direct response to the Deputy. Please be advised if this relates to an ongoing matter before the courts it may limit the response to an extent.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Strategies (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Migrant Integration Strategy was launched in 2017 and concluded at the end of 2021, having been extended for a year due to the impact of COVID-19. The Strategy forms the central policy framework adopted by the Government to promote the integration of all migrants and their Irish-born children across ten areas of public policy. The Strategy aims to enhance diversity, inclusion and equity...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Youth Services (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department provides funding to Education and Training Boards (ETB) to support youth services in their area. My officials hold quarterly meetings with the ETBs and these meetings assist my Department in identifying service needs and emerging issues, particularly for vulnerable young people. Last Year the UBU programme manager within my Department visited all 16 ETBs and over 70 youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme is designed to be flexible, recognising that childcare needs are different for each family. In creating a single scheme, it was important to recognise these differences and create a system that could respond to them. For this reason subsidies are awarded as an hourly rate, along with a maximum number of weekly hours that the subsidy will be paid for. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In September 2022, the new Core Funding scheme was launched as part of Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare. Core Funding is worth €259 million in full year costs and its primary purpose is to improve pay and conditions in the sector as a whole and improve affordability for parents as well as ensuring a stable income to providers. To...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, my Department continues to work as part of the whole-of-Government response with a focus on meeting the immediate accommodation needs of those fleeing the conflict. My Department is focused on the short-term accommodation needs of those who have fled here. To date, more than 73,000 people have arrived in Ireland and in excess of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Emergency Accommodation (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has now contracted in excess of 42,000 beds with over 700 providers to accommodate approximately 53,000 beneficiaries of temporary protection. As part of the whole of Government humanitarian response, my Department launched an updated commercial accommodation offer management process on 23 January 2023. The objective of this updated approach is to streamline the offer process...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Healthcare Policy (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a matter for my cabinet colleague, the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has made extensive provision to support children with additional needs in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme. The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access ECCE. Its goal is to empower pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Following my announcement of the hot meals pilot scheme in November 2022, my Department have collaborated with Pobal to recruit nine services as pilot sites to examine the delivery of an enhanced food offer in sessional pre-school and part-time services. Given that a large number of settings including all full-day care services already provide this service, the aim of this pilot is to provide...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Unaccompanied Minors and Separated Children (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Statutory and operational responsibility for the delivery of child protection and welfare services is a matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Deputy is seeking information in relation to an operational matter for Tusla. Consequently, I have referred the matter to Tusla, and requested that a direct response be provided to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Registration of Births (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Information and Tracing services, as provided for under the Act, opened to applications on 3rd October 2022. As of 7th February, a total of 6,744 applications for information have been received by the Child and Family Agency, Tusla and the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI), in addition to 3,080 applications for tracing services and 3,031 preferences registered to the Contact Preference...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (9 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy will be aware, Budget 2023 has introduced a major reform to the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) from January 2023, which will substantially improve the affordability of early learning and childcare for families. From 2 January, all families accessing registered early learning and childcare receive a minimum hourly NCS subsidy of €1.40. With the previous minimum...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Policies (8 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In 2019, the European Commission announced the creation of a European Child Guarantee with a view to ensuring that every child in Europe at risk of poverty or social exclusion has access to the most basic of rights like healthcare and education. The Child Guarantee, adopted by the Council of the European Union in June 2021, aims to prevent and combat social exclusion by guaranteeing the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (8 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Over 72,000 Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) have arrived in Ireland since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Of those, more than 53,000 have been referred to my Department seeking accommodation. Overseeing provision of accommodation on this scale during this timeframe for all those who require it remains immensely challenging. Due to the urgent need to source...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Social Media (8 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Department does not collate this information. It is available publicly by referencing the social media accounts in question.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (8 Feb 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand the frustration expressed by the person concerned in the email to which the Deputy refers. I am aware that considerable efforts have been made by the relevant local authority to avail of his generous offer of pledged accommodation for Ukrainian beneficiaries of temporary protection. My Department has also brought this recent correspondence to the attention of the Irish Red...