Results 7,861-7,880 of 11,754 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: All children meeting the minimum age requirement of 2 years and 8 months are eligible for two full programme years on the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The ECCE programme is offered for 3 hours per day, up to 5 days per week. ECCE is not a mandatory programme and it is parental choice whether a child attends full time, part time or not at all. A parent/guardian may...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Expenditure (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The information being sought by the Deputy is currently being collated and the response will issue as soon as possible.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services are private businesses, comprising a mix of private for-profit and community not-for-profit services. The State does not employ early years educators. As a result, my Department cannot set wage levels or determine working conditions for staff in the sector. Additionally, as ELC and SAC services are private businesses, their...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: At present, all IPAS permanent accommodation centres are subject to three unannounced inspections per year. In 2022, inspections were carried out in each centre by an independent inspections company (QTS Ltd) and one by officials of the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS). The third round of inspections were delayed as the usual mid-year round of inspections had been...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My department already administers several funding programmes to support NGOs and communities hosting migrants. These funding programmes include the: - Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund - Communities Integration Fund - International Protection Integration Fund - National Integration Fund Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund Ireland's national programme for the 2021-2027 Asylum,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Ireland is now accommodating over 84,875 people between those fleeing Ukraine and International Protection applicants (IPAs). This compares with over 8,575 at the end of February 2022. Since the beginning of January 2022, the International Protection Procurement Service (IPPS) have brought 148 emergency accommodation locations into use in 23 counties. All offers of accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (30 May 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. Tusla has a role in referring children to external services such as medical or psychological services which are deemed necessary through assessment of needs. These services are not provided by Tusla and Tusla does not have governance of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is the statutory body with responsibility for child protection and welfare services. If I, or my officials, become aware of a situation in which a child is considered to be at risk, that concern is communicated to Tusla as a matter of urgency. The Deputy is seeking information in relation to an operational matter for Tusla. Consequently, I have...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I must assume that the Deputy is referring to a situation where a child in the care of Tusla may have additional needs. The thresholds for taking a child in to care are set out in the Child Care Act 1991, as amended. The thresholds are based on the risk that the child may not receive adequate care or protection unless they are taken into care, and do not explicitly reference any...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Rights of the Child (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department is preparing a new policy framework for children and young people (0-24), covering the period 2023-2028 for publication in the coming months. This framework is adopting a rights-based approach, focused on realising the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. While the framework will work towards realising the rights of all children and young people, I am mindful that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Direct Provision System (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Please see, in tabular format, the accommodation types and current occupancy of International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation centres as of 21 May 2023. Accommodation Types Number of Centres Total Occupancy Of Whom Children Accommodation Types Number of Centres Total Occupancy Of Whom...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (30 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In March 2022, the Department of Housing Local Government and Heritage (DHLGH) was tasked with identifying multi-unit vacant properties (both privately and state owned) that may be suitable and available as accommodation for beneficiaries of temporary protection from Ukraine, and worked closely with Local Authorities and other state organisations and Departments throughout this process. More...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Unaccompanied Minors and Separated Children (31 May 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: Social Welfare Payments (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Matters related to social welfare payments are a matter for the Department of Social Protection. Under the supplementary welfare allowance scheme, the Department of Social Protection may make Additional Needs Payments to help meet essential expenses that a person cannot pay from their weekly income. This is an overarching term used to refer to exceptional and urgent needs payments, and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has, since 2016, funded the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower pre-school providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In line with emerging best practice to support the integration and independence of children with a disability, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) does not fund Special Needs Assistants (SNAs). Rather, Level 7 of AIM provides financial support to the pre-school provider, which is used either to reduce the adult-to-child ratio in the pre-school room or to buy in additional assistance to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: School age childcare (SAC) services are required to operate within regulatory minimum adult-to-child ratios as set out in the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018. The ratio is the minimum number of adults required to supervise, care for and work directly with the children in the service. The introduction of SAC Regulations in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare that is affordable and accessible is a key Government priority and my Department relies on a number of data sources to monitor supply and demand. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of my Department - through the Early Years Sector Profile Survey - is one important data source that allows us to monitor supply and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. It provides children with their first formal experience of early learning prior to commencing primary school. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and the programme year runs...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 May 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. The Department monitors early learning and childcare capacity on an ongoing basis, with a particular focus on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of my Department - through the Early Years Sector Profile Survey - is one...