Results 7,301-7,320 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Seanad: Independent Review of the Handling of Past Complaints of Abuse in St John Ambulance Ireland: Motion (29 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I acknowledge the central role of the survivors affected by the Shannon report, who advocated for their right to be heard and for the harm that was done to them to be acknowledged. It is through their tireless activism that we have a report that is a testament to the truth as they have told us all along. I have had extensive and valuable engagements with Mick Finnegan since becoming...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I do not have qualitative data from Tusla on that. I have no doubt that in some circumstances the lack of mental health supports is probably a driver for creating a system where a family breakdown could perhaps have been prevented and is not prevented because of a lack of supports, leading to a child going into foster care or the wider alternative care system. I do not have qualitative data...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is an interim CEO of Tusla, Kate Duggan.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: There will be a process to appoint the new CEO soon but Kate is in the interim role. Everyone would recognise that in the three and a half years that Bernard Gloster was in the role he was extremely innovative and took on a lot of the challenges that were in Tusla.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand that. Moving away from reliance on private fostering would have been something Bernard Gloster felt strongly about and I think it is something Kate Duggan would feel strongly about as well. It is something the Department feels strongly about. There are real challenges there but we are doing the work in terms of the recognition of non-private foster parents and also those...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am saying that my understanding from engaging with fostering organisations is that foster carers often feel that those engaged with private fostering are better resourced. I am not making a value judgment on that view but that is what people feel and what often leads people to go into the private system.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: On a weekly basis, there are children in this situation. These are children whose needs are very complex. Unfortunately, they can be very young children who may have substance abuse issues and issues of violence and the like, where they need a multiperson 24-hour team and the only place to provide this is either in hotel or rented accommodation. These situations are unfortunately becoming...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: We could have approximately 50 of these placements per year.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Fifty in play at any one time and yes they would be overnight stays and often over a number of nights.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Foster Care Issues: Discussion (28 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will respond to the Chair's last point first. As she knows, Tusla are bringing forward three strategies in alternative care. The first is for residential care, the second for foster care, and the third one is for aftercare. That last one should be coming out in the next number of months. It might be useful for us, and maybe even someone from Tusla could come for a session with the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Legislative Measures (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. In January 2022, the Government agreed that issues relating to international surrogacy required further detailed consideration and agreed to the establishment of a special Joint Oireachtas Committee on International Surrogacy. Following the publication of the final report of the committee in July 2022, officials from my Department joined colleagues from the Department of...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Legislative Measures (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am aware of the very pressing needs for parents with children where those legal relations have not been properly established. That being said, I do not think we could promise to provide for the retrospective element beforehand. This has to be done in the one package. The Government has committed to addressing the issue of retrospective parentage and has set out a range of criteria in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Legislative Measures (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Being honest, as mine is not the lead Department, I cannot give the Deputy a specific timeframe. I will speak to the Minister, Deputy Donnelly, and get back to her directly to give her an indication on times. Following the publication of the proposals in December, I was contacted by groups such as LGBT Ireland. It had flagged some concerns, particularly for same-sex female couples and how...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Legislative Measures (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: To answer the question very directly, I have not had a formal meeting with the Taoiseach or the Minister for Health since responsibility came over to my Department on 1 March on this specific issue. However, both myself and the Minister of State with special responsibility for disability, Deputy Rabbitte, and our officials, are engaging with all relevant Departments and stakeholders, such as...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: A range of issues is impacting on our ability to recruit new staff and retain existing staff across the CDNT network. Undoubtedly, pay is one of those. It is also fair to say that even in HSE-led CDNTs we are having problems regarding recruitment and retention as well. I do not think it is solely because of the pay differential between HSE-led and section 38- or section 39-led CDNTs. I do...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As I said, the issue of recruitment and retention in CDNTs is the top priority for the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and me. We will look to support all measures that we can see that will start to address the major issues in this context. I recognise that pay and the pay differential is part of this issue. We have seen that issues concerning organisations providing services to the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Protection (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: We had a useful discussion on this matter in the Seanad yesterday. The board of St. John Ambulance Ireland commissioned an independent review to be carried out by Dr. Geoffrey Shannon into the handling of complaints of historical sexual abuse of members under 18. This was a step I had urged the organisation to undertake following my own engagement with victims of abuse within the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Protection (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: While we all welcome that this report was undertaken, that it was published and that St. John Ambulance has committed to implementing all its recommendations, it is not acceptable that it took this huge level of pressure, primarily applied by the victims of abuse in this organisation, and nearly everyone here would have engaged with one or more of those victims, to bring about this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child Protection (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: On engagement with survivors, I said in the Seanad yesterday that I have had online meetings, had phone calls and had very significant engagement with one of the survivors. I am open to further engagement if that is something they feel is necessary and that they would wish. Moving away from St. John Ambulance to the wider issue, the discussions Deputy Funchion will have at her committee...