Results 781-800 of 11,700 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Senator Fitzpatrick has given me quite a list . I agree with her that five years of work has gone into the commission's report and a lot of it was put into creating the database. This is why the legislation was put forward, solely to have a database that will be of use to survivors. It is the only reason the legislation was ever put through. I am glad the legislation was passed because the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I apologise. My laptop died and I have jumped onto the laptop of one of my officials. Can I be heard?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I apologise.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I apologise for the breakdown there. With regard to Bessborough House, perhaps it is best that we wait for the report to come out. It will have a detailed chapter on Bessborough. It would be best to look at it then and we will be in a position to address queries about the next steps. The Senator has raised an important issue about adoption. The reason information and tracing legislation...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I cannot see if the Chairman is still wearing her fostering badge but I know she was wearing it earlier. Fostering awareness week is coming up and my Department is doing one or two discrete campaigns. As well as the wider fostering campaign, we are also looking to target fostering parents within the Travelling community. We are also looking at a programme to encourage foster parents for...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I acknowledge what Deputy Crowe is saying on the burials in Tuam and what was done there, and the importance of the State taking action now to give some dignity to those children and babies in death. It is a dignity we will probably see was not afforded to them in life or immediately on their passing. As regards the timeline for information and tracing, I hope this legislation will be...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: We are having camera issues. Can the Chairman hear me?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I heard everything Deputy Flaherty said. I agree with everything he said and thank him for his comments. We can give a full assurance that there will be absolute disclosure of everything in this report. It is incredibly detailed. It contains 4,000 pages. It includes chapters on each of the mother and baby homes and a social history chapter that tries to give the context of Ireland in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I can still hear the Senator and the Chair.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator for her comments. On the issue of residential care and the preference for fostering, I absolutely agree. Fostering is always the preference. Of all children in care in the State, 91% are in foster care and 7% are in residential care. That shows the extent to which Tusla focuses on residential care but there are situations where a child or, often, a young person has...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: That is why we have had to put in additional supports. We could not do otherwise. If there is a situation involving a young person whose needs far outstrip the capacity of a foster family, we have to put in place that level of care. The Senator referred to direct provision. This cannot, and will not, be simply a name change. It is a complete approach to how we treat people in the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: If the Senator wrote to me on that point, it would be useful.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: If the Senator writes to me as well I will engage with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science, Deputy Harris, who I understand leads out on apprenticeships. I would be happy to engage with the Oireachtas on that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am aware of the petition. The treatment of the archive of the commission of investigation comes from the original 2004 Act. The mother and baby homes commission was established in 2015 on the basis of the 2004 Act and the requirements of that Act with regard to the archive. My legislation, which is now an Act, was designed to take part of the archive and give it to Tusla.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Is that any better?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: We are being stymied everywhere we go. The treatment of the archive is a result of the 2004 Act and the decision to establish the commission on the basis of its provision. The decision of the Attorney General that the GDPR applies to the archive in my Department is significant. It means that rather than a blanket "No" to access requests, we have to consider each on its individual merits....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Sustainable Development Goals and Departmental Priorities: Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (3 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: We will absolutely engage with the Chair. I did not get all the specific questions that she asked, so she might put them in a letter or ask the clerk to the committee to put them together and we will get back to her. As I said in the Dáil and Seanad, I want to work with this committee. Many of the items of legislation we will address, which are very technical and require...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (4 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for her query. I acknowledge the importance of the issue of access to the commission's archive, which is due to be deposited with my Department at the end of February 2021. I am committed to implementing fully the right of access under the GDPR for those who wish to access their personal information from that date. I can confirm that my Department will provide...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (4 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is absolutely right to say that survivors are essential to all of this. That is the key concern. As I acknowledged in my earlier contributions, I did not do enough to reach out to survivors prior to the introduction of this legislation. I am in the process of rectifying this. I have engaged with survivors this week, including today, and I will continue to do so. There will...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Sector (4 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department operates an annual capital funding programme for which €8.3 million has been allocated for 2021 for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Aged Childcare (SAC) services. The purposes for which this funding can be used are determined on an annual basis by my Department. I will announce details of the 2021 capital programme in the coming months. My Department funds a...