Results 1,281-1,300 of 5,087 for speaker:Kathleen Funchion

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I thank the witnesses for their presentations and for their ongoing work in this area. While I do not want to single anyone out, I regularly call on Ms Quinn and the ACP for advice and have found her and her colleagues extremely helpful. I will try to get in as much as possible during my ten minutes. Do Ms Quinn, Ms Donohoe and Ms Daly feel that the level of consultation with the...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: Do Ms Quinn and Ms Heeney have concerns about the sustainability of the sector in future? Is there a need for a sustainability fund to help facilities with particular Covid debts? As a possible solution, could the wage-subsidy scheme be extended to all staff at the full amount, not just 85%, given that some providers may have to decide which staff will return if they are not coming back at...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I also want to touch on the children themselves and the impact all of this has had on them. Has Early Childhood Ireland thought about looking into this to see if there are any supports it can provide for them? I do not necessarily mean for it to give them directly but is there funding available or could we look for funding supports for children? In case I do not have time, I also want to...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I thank the departmental officials for being with us. I have a number of points I want to get through, the first of which is to do with consultation. We heard earlier from representatives of the unions for front-line healthcare workers that there were zero consultations with their own Department regarding what we now know was a failed childcare scheme proposal. I welcome the advisory...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: Sustainability is a key issue in all of this. I have been talking about it since the very start of the crisis. We know that the childcare sector has been underfunded for years and this was the straw that broke the camel's back for most providers and staff working within it. I have been asking about a sustainability fund for the childcare sector and the one that exists for community...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: What guidelines have been issued to the sector? Many people working in the sector have come to us with concerns about their own health and safety. We are all talking about whether schools will open in September and if they will open perhaps for one or two days a week, yet the early childcare sector is expected to open from Monday with no talk about it only being for one or two days a week....

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed). (23 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: My last question relates not necessarily to Covid but to the sponsorship scheme where children can get additional childcare under the national childcare scheme, NCS. There seems to be some confusion in some areas. A facility in the west could not actually access this scheme and had to pay for the additional childcare itself. Is there a programme in place or will additional training or...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Needs Education: Impact of Covid-19 (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I thank the witnesses from Inclusion Ireland for their presentations. I was really impressed with Mr. Egan's opening statement, in which he said: "Some parents noted that their child presents with behaviours that can be challenging or he or she has poor attention skills which require the support of a skilled teacher." That sums up everything we have been discussing over the past number of...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Needs Education: Impact of Covid-19 (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: That leads me to my second question. On Tuesday, the committee discussed the early years childcare sector which is reopening on Monday. We all accept that there will be challenges, difficulties and teething problems for everybody reopening at the moment. Given that other sectors are reopening, there is a way to provide the July provision to all children with additional needs rather than to...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Needs Education: Impact of Covid-19 (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: Parents have told me - I have also seen it - that they have to go on social media looking for tutors. Sometimes, when one puts in a parliamentary question, one gets an answer back that everything is fine and rosy in the garden when the experience is a lot different. Is there assistance available from the NCSE or from SENOs to assist people in finding tutors? From what I have seen and...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I thank the Acting Chairman and I thank the Department and the NCSE for coming in. My first two questions are for the Department and the NCSE and concern children who cannot be diagnosed due to the delays caused by Covid. I am talking specifically about autism spectrum disorder, ASD, and also in general. What provisions are in place to provide either resource hours, a place in a special...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: One must have a specific diagnosis on paper if one is looking for an ASD class place. I know one cannot apply for a place at a particularly school in Kilkenny unless one has a diagnosis on paper. I mentioned resource hours but I also mentioned an ASD class and special schools. What happens if one awaits a diagnosis that has been delayed due to Covid and one's child is due to start school...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: My second question relates to SNAs in a particular preschool. There is only one ASD preschool in Kilkenny and as such Ms Griffin will probably be aware of the preschool I am speaking about it. The preschool can cater for 12 children but it has only nine children enrolled, with diagnoses in respect of three other children delayed owing to Covid-19. Every year, this preschool is inundated...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I would appreciate it if Ms Griffin would do so. On the expansion of the summer provision programme, year-on-year there is much discussion and general agreement on the need for this provision to be made available to all children with additional needs rather than it being ring-fenced for children with autism and every year we end up in the same situation, although I acknowledge that the...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: My final point is in regard to those people who on leaving secondary school were due to transition from children's services into adult services and for whom, as for all of us, everything was turned upside down in March. Many of them may have concerns regarding transport. I accept this is not a matter that comes directly within the remit of the witnesses. Could interim services or, perhaps,...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: I thank Mr. Tattan.

Written Answers — Department of Education and Skills: Special Educational Needs (30 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: 165. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if clear and concise information will be provided to parents, schools and the HSE in relation to summer provision and also that children with a moderate intellectual disability or Down's syndrome that attend secondary school be included along with children that had their assessments put on hold due to the Covid-19 pandemic. [13031/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Dental Services (30 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: 411. To ask the Minister for Health when dental services for children with special needs will resume in St. Luke’s Hospital, Kilkenny (details supplied). [12894/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Respite Care Services (30 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: 412. To ask the Minister for Health the status of the home share respite project in the south-east; and if the project is on schedule in view of indications by the head of HSE disability services for the south-east. [12895/20]

Written Answers — Department of Health: Dental Services (30 Jun 2020)

Kathleen Funchion: 490. To ask the Minister for Health if the HSE will outsource dental appointments for children in order that waiting times to have urgent dental work undertaken can be significantly reduced; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13212/20]