Results 1,161-1,180 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Other Questions: Child Protection Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As I said earlier, ICT is critical to providing effective social work services for vulnerable children and families. This question is very similar to one that was asked earlier. The Deputy specifically focused on how important ICT is for the work of social workers. It is absolutely critical, as the current HIQA report and others have indicated. When the ICT system is rolled out, it...

Other Questions: Child Protection Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: In light of some earlier questions from Deputy Shortall, this would be a critical aspect of the retention of social workers. I hope this will be one of the best systems that are possible. A lot of time was spent on consultation throughout the country with users and providers to design a particular system. In light of that, I hope and expect that the new system will considerably increase...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Schemes (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I share the Deputy's concern to ensure that those on low incomes have access to appropriate childcare supports, irrespective of whether they are in receipt of a social protection payment. With this in mind, the Programme for Government commits to streamlining the existing targeted childcare programmes, including the Community Childcare Scheme, into a new single affordable childcare scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Strategy Implementation (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The new Early Years Strategy is due to be finalised by the end of 2016 and work in developing this is at an advanced stage. My first priority in relation to Early Years is to secure the expansion of schemes announced by my predecessor, in Budget 2016. The expansion of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) free pre-school year is my immediate priority, as is the roll out of the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: There were 343 children in residential care at the end of April 2016. - This represents approximately 5% of all children in care. - Just over half, 185 children, were in private residential care centres. - I have been informed that there are currently 146 children's residential centres, of which - 81 are privately managed, Tusla manages 39 and 26 are managed by voluntary bodies. - The...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: insertheading (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 18, 28 and 38 together. As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I am very concerned about the welfare of homeless children. As the Deputies will be aware, issues in relation to homelessness are a key priority for this Government, as evidenced by the publication of the Action Plan for Housing and Homelessness last Tuesday. While the concerted efforts...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Detention Centres Data (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: At present there are a total of 237 Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) staff employed in Oberstown Children Detention Campus. The breakdown of these posts are detailed in the following table: Grade No. of Posts Filled (WTE) Secondment  Campus Manager 1 Director 2 1 Deputy Director 3 Head of Care 1 Unit Manager's   Day and Night Managers 16.5 Hr...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Unemployment Measures (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Government has a range of measures in place to increase employment opportunities for young people and to tackle youth unemployment. I plan to work closely with all relevant Government departments to implement these measures in the context of the Government’s Action Plan for Jobs. Last month I announced details of the €600,000 Youth Employability Initiative which is...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy will be aware, the central focus of the Commission of Investigation established by SI 57 of 2015 is on mothers and children accommodated in Homes for the purposes of extended ante- and post-natal maternity and infant care services. On that basis it would not be appropriate to include St Patrick's Guild as a Mother and Baby Home, as it did not provide this range of services. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Measures (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy is aware, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 was signed into law in December of last year. The Act, which amends the Child Care Act 1991, has three distinct elements. While the main body of provision relates to aftercare (under sections 2-9), the legislation also includes technical amendments on foot of the commencement of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 (under sections...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: In 2002, the Health Service Executive (HSE) agreed to fund a Child minding Advisory Officer post in each county, who would work with the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) funded under the Childcare Programme, implemented by the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The role included notifying child minders of training opportunities, providing networking opportunities...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: UN Committees (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department coordinates reporting of the actions of all Government Departments in relation to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and it liaises with the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child. In that capacity, my Department has circulated the UNCRC Concluding Observations, published in February 2016, to all Government Departments for attention regarding recommendations appropriate...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I do not have a role in relation to the private family arrangements that may be made for the care of children by their grandparents . Where a child is in the statutory care of the State, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has a statutory duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. Wherever possible, Tusla will consider a suitable relative,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Garda Youth Diversion Projects (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Statutory provision in relation to young offenders is set out in the Children Act 2001. The elements of the Children Act relating to the operation of the Garda Youth Diversion Programme, matters relating to criminal proceedings against children, criminal law issues and the operation of the Children Court under the Act come within the remit of the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I was delighted to announce recently that more than €6.5m in capital funding has been allocated through my Department to 1,006 pre-school providers nationwide. This represents an increase of over €2.5m on the amount of €4m announced for this programme in February 2016. This grant has been made available for early years pre-school services, both private and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: When the Early Years Quality Agenda was introduced in 2013, in order to further improve quality in pre-school services, one of the items to be progressed was the introduction of a requirement that all staff working with children in early years services should hold a qualification in early childhood care and education at a minimum of Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ) or...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Community Childcare Subvention Programme (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department has been monitoring the take-up of both the Childcare Subvention programme (CCS) and the Childcare Subvention Programme (Private)(CCSP) places and will be instituting a number of initiatives to increase public awareness of the CCS Programme overall. These initiatives include advertisements on social media sites, local and national newspapers and within community settings and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: HSE Funding (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to inform the Deputy that I am aware of the issue of the alleged withdrawal of HSE supports for children with disabilities attending the Early Education and Care Programme in County Donegal. My officials have been informed by the HSE this week that no services are being withdrawn and that the same amount of funding continues to be allocated to these supports. However, with the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Social Workers Recruitment (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Since the beginning of 2016 Tusla has recruited 167 social workers, 64 have resigned and 10 have retired. In this context, I strongly support Tusla's three-year plan that will provide extra staffing to meet critical service concerns. These include children who have no allocated social worker. The plan involves increasing overall staffing levels in Tusla by 323 whole-time equivalents, with...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Services (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Adult disclosure, or retrospective cases, are where an adult comes forward and makes a complaint that he or she was abused as a child. The vast majority of such complaints relate to sexual abuse. The Gardaí are always informed of these complaints and their role is to carry out a criminal investigation into the complaint. Tusla's job is to try and establish if the alleged abuser poses...