Results 8,121-8,140 of 11,802 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: School Accommodation (29 Jun 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: First 5, the whole-of-government strategy to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families recognises the potential for the use of school facilities for before and after-school early learning childcare. Data captured through the Annual Early Years Sector Profile in Spring 2022 revealed that approximately 15% of early learning and childcare services are located on school...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (29 Jun 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Department has utilised the services of a media buying agency since 2019. The information, as requested, is below. The Department does not collate information on behalf of agencies under its aegis. 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Total Ex VAT ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 56 and 57 together. I thank the Deputy for raising the question. Children in the care of the State are some of the most vulnerable individuals in our society. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and my Department are committed to promoting safe and high-quality practice in all areas of alternative care. Tusla has a statutory obligation to notify An...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputies. I am actually dealing with a question later in terms of children who go missing from care. Obviously, any child missing from care for any period is a real concern, but it is really important to say that the vast majority are returned to care safely. However, that is not to say that even one child continuously missing from care is not a matter of real concern. ...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. I am pleased to be able to say there has been an increase in the level of foster carers. It has gone up by 1%, from 89% to 90%, so it is going in the right direction. That is really important. When comparing Ireland with other countries, the number of children who are in care, including foster care, is extremely high. We want to continue to support foster carers. In...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. At the end of April 2023, 75% of cases, some 17,083, had an allocated social worker and 25%, some 5,785, were awaiting allocation of a social worker. My Department has established a joint working group with Tusla to examine issues around social work supply and review initiatives around it. This group includes senior officials from both my Department and Tusla, including...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. I take on board her point about the data. I will raise it with Tusla the next time I meet with it. I meet Tusla quarterly. I assure the Deputy that workforce planning and retention are central in all my engagements with the board. These are a source of real concern for the board too. It is important to say that the number of allocated cases has come down...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I completely agree with the Deputy's point about consistency. One of the things that has arisen during my time in this office is that a significant number of social workers and social care workers are care-experienced themselves. Knowing the benefit they got from it, they want to give something back. Not everyone is entirely suited to a purely academic route. Looking at developing that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department acknowledges the important role Enable Ireland and other section 39 organisations and, in particular, their workers play in our health and social care services. This work is essential in providing services to many families and vulnerable people in society. Voluntary service provider agencies provide the majority of services in partnership with and on behalf of the Health...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy has rightly summarised the significance of Enable Ireland. They are present in nearly every CHO area. They lead 20 of our community disability network teams in doing such important work with children. They are an example of the real importance the community and voluntary has in terms of the work that the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I are doing on disability with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Health Services Staff (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The issue of staff retention is so important, especially there are significant numbers of vacancies on some of our community disability network teams and in other areas in the section 56 organisations. Pay differentials have a role in this regard. This is why it is important we act within the powers we have, again recognising that neither we as the Government or the HSE are the direct...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Foster carers play a vital role in the care of our most vulnerable children. The placement of a child in foster care is the preferred option for children who cannot live with their family of origin. It enables children in State care to live in a safe, secure, and stable home environment. The Deputy may be aware that approximately 90% of children in care are cared for by foster carers,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. That issue of travel expenses has been highlighted with me. There is a paper going between ourselves and Tusla for a proposal to provide some relief there. He is correct about the pensions issue. I have discussed this directly with Minister for Social Protection and we will come back to it, especially in respect of the significant reforms she is bringing through...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I want to promote the direct engagement by Tusla of foster carers. It is important we recognise Tusla's changed approach to this issue. It is in the process right now of appointing a national lead for foster care. I was surprised that was not in place but I know it is something Bernard Gloster wanted to implement and it is something Kate Duggan has implemented now. That gives a much...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme is a universal two-year preschool programme. Children within the eligible age range can access this programme for three hours per day, five days per week. The delivery of the ECCE programme aligns with the school year and operates over 38 weeks per year from September to June. All hours of early learning and childcare accessed outside...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The measures I have sought to introduce are to make provision for providers, make provision for childcare professionals and make provision for parents. It is important that all three are provided for in the measures the Government brings forward because, ultimately, looking after all those will ensure they can better look after our children. The Deputy is absolutely right about the pressure...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: For the second year of core funding, which kicks in in September, I was delighted to be able to secure an additional €28 million. That is an 11% growth year on year to support providers, which is very significant. The Deputy is right. In this year's budget we have many goals we want to achieve. We want to keep core funding growing. We really want to cut fees for parents again. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is an issue the Deputy has brought to me regularly. It touches on what Deputy Dillon spoke about earlier regarding capacity. Some €69 million has been allocated between 2023 and 2025 to the early learning and childcare sectors under the revised national development plan. This will enable significant capital investment in early learning and childcare across three pillars....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. Regarding the pillars I announced there, I think the Deputy is going to be particularly interested in pillar 2, which is a capacity grant. This will allow existing services to expand and build brand new services. I hope that later on in the summer, we will be in a position to make the announcement on how people can apply this year to draw down funds for the capacity...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (4 Jul 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I acknowledge this is an area the Deputy knows particularly well. As I said, we have brought in these allocations under the NDP. They will be able to be drawn down next year and the following year. I would like it if the envelope were a bit bigger. We will always be pushing to grow the capital as well as the current side we spoke about earlier. We will continue to work to grow that. The...