Results 10,301-10,320 of 11,827 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Maternity Leave (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Maternity Protection Act 1994 and the Maternity Protection (Amendment) Act 2004 provide a pregnant employee with six months of paid maternity leave and an additional 16 weeks of unpaid leave. All forms of family leave are kept under review to ensure that they are effective in supporting families and children. In October I announced plans to introduce legislation to allow women undergoing...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme recognises time spent in a Mother and Baby Institution and, in this way, the associated harsh conditions endured over a period of time. The requirement for children to have spent at least 180 days in a relevant institution is not intended to disregard or diminish any person’s experience and Government recognises that there are people who...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for this question. A response will be provided directly to the Deputy in the coming days.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The ECCE Programme is a free, universal two-year preschool programme available to all children within the eligible age range, funded by my Department, with payments made to approved ECCE providers. The key issue of concern for this parent relates to an ECCE compliance inspection of their child's approved ECCE provider, which was conducted by Pobal on behalf of my Department on 12 March 2024,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Contracts (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department for Children; Equality; Disability; Integration and Youth has no current or prior contracts with BAM construction and subsidiaries and companies under the BAM group.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I apologise for the delay in responding to the deferred PQ 25371/24. I can confirm that a response to this PQ has now been issued and will reach you shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: After-School Support Services (11 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Funding for Tusla registered School Aged Childcare (SAC) is provided through a number of measures including the National Childcare Scheme and Core funding. Core Funding, the funding scheme introduced in 2022, allocates funding for providers based on the cost of delivery. The National Childcare Scheme is the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. It establishes an...

International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Motion (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Acting Chair. I welcome the proposal by the Minister for Justice, and I and my Department look forward to working with her and across Government on its implementation. Ireland, like many other European countries, is experiencing a significant increase in the number of people seeking international protection. The arrival numbers remain significantly elevated. Up to mid-June...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. From his engagement and that of other Deputies from Cork I am well aware of the issues facing Northside Community Enterprise and of the funding that is required to support the reopening of the Before 5 Family Centre in Churchfield. The centre is in an area of undersupply and of high need for childcare places. The ambition of Northside Community...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I do not accept the Deputy's assertion that it is moving at a snail's pace. We are looking to create a new funding stream that will deal with situations like this where there is an existing service that is using a building that is no longer fit for purpose and requires significant capital support. That requires my Department to engage with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: When I was in Cork I sought the meeting with Northside Community Enterprise in order to be able to discuss the need for particular support to get this service reopened. I was able to see the amazing work it has done in other services and understand the particular ethos behind the organisation as a community organisation. This is something we in the Department want to support. I outlined...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy knows, on 27 March 2024, the Government agreed a new comprehensive accommodation strategy, CAS, for international protection applicants. This has a twofold aim. The immediate aim is to deal with the situation where we are not able to offer accommodation to everybody right now, and a significant number of people were sleeping rough on our streets. The secondary aim, as the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I agree with much of what the Deputy said. We have to remember we are rebuilding our international protection system in real time. For years we were not getting anywhere close to the European average for international protection applicants. Since 2022 we have been getting the average, but our system was not built for those numbers. We are having to rebuild the processing system. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The comprehensive accommodation strategy is to run until 2028. The vision set out in my answer of 13,000 beds and the various elements is something we wish to achieve by 2028. We have already taken significant steps in the use of State land. That has been a huge change. There is the site at Crooksling, County Dublin, and at Trudder, County Wicklow, where we are now accommodating a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Core funding has been in operation since 15 September 2022 and has achieved significant successes in terms of the high level of participation we are seeing. Right now, 4,632 services nationwide are eligible to partake in the core funding scheme. Of those, 4,369 are partner services, meaning 267 services have not signed up to core funding. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: There were a couple of questions there. We have some information about black spots, mainly through the city and county childcare committees. We have just set up a new unit in our Department, a bit like the forward planning unit in the Department of Education, very much designed around a better understanding of where pressure spots are, and we are feeding that information into local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Right now, where a service is not involved in the core funding model my Department does not have a mechanism to influence how much it charges. If the service is in the NCS the Department provides a significant subsidy to parents, which is growing this year - and very significantly in September - and which will lessen the costs. However, right now the Department does not have a mechanism if...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Foster care is the preferred method of care for children in care who cannot live with their families of origin. As we know, foster care provides a safe, secure and stable home environment for some of our most vulnerable children. Tusla's assessment of any foster carer must consider the foster carer's expected availability to meet and support the needs of the child who has come into his or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for keeping the spotlight on this issue because it is so important that we support foster carers. I have met IFCA and Movement for Change in Foster Care and other organisations representing foster carers regularly. In particular, I met them after, not the 2024 budget but the 2023 budget, and I said I would work with them to deal with the allowance which was a key issue...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: When I met IFCA and Movement for Change in Foster Care we spoke about five broad areas where they felt the State needed to be doing more. These were allowances - which the Deputy has discussed already; travel expenses - which I am working on with Tusla; and additional concrete supports particularly in terms of therapies and we now have therapist groups available to foster carers from which...