Results 15,781-15,800 of 21,514 for speaker:Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I wish to make a couple of remarks. I welcome the Minister and his team from the Department. I wish to refer to the briefing for the select sub-committee that was prepared by the Department. There may be other figures that I have been able to link up in the limited time available to me. In terms of the Child and Family Agency, the Estimate for 2015 refers to a sum of €631...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It is Vote 40 and I am referring to page 5 of the 26-page briefing provided by the Department in advance of today's meeting. I seek clarification as to the organisations and as to why grants part funded by the national lottery to these respective organisations, estimated as €910 million in 2014, are not now to be provided. There is a 100% discounting of these for this year. I will...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I thank the Minster for the clarification on the €12 million capital allocation in his stated allocation for Tusla for 2015. I do not expect the Minister will know but I ask in case he might. Does he have any idea as to how that money might be expended in the course of 2015? Are there any particular projects for which it might be earmarked? I refer again to an issue I have...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I have a couple of comments on the Minister's response.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Of course. That is what it is all about.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I refer to the provision of social workers, on which Tusla is critically dependent in the carrying out of its function, and the allocation for 2015. In real terms, leaving the capital allocation aside, there is a 4.8% increase, but that is not enough. On departures, of the 1,396 whole-time equivalent social work positions, leaving aside the 164 recruited during the course of the year -...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I will approach the same issue in a slightly different way and ask the Minister the following questions. Do we still have pre-adult detainees in St. Patrick's Institution at Mountjoy Prison? How soon does he expect that to end?

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Does he envisage that Oberstown will be operational soon?

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: Will it be this year?

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I thank the Minister.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I will address the same point. The allocation for 2015 has been reduced by €2.6 million and the Minister indicated that 68,000 children will benefit from the scheme this year. Some people make a substantial case for the introduction of a second free preschool year, while another strong lobby argues instead for having the highest possible standards apply across the board in the...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I presume the briefing document supplied by the Department is an amalgamation of figures from elsewhere. It refers to €84 million to be allocated to child care programmes, including CCS and CETS. Deputy Troy believes the next programme - the child care initiative - is included in this allocation. The Deputy might confirm if that is correct. I was not certain if the area-based...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: On the question of youth organisations and services, I put a question to the Minister at the outset when I was attempting to establish the factual position with regard to the grants to organisations part-funded by the national lottery. The Minister indicated that €910,000 had been moved on to Tusla and the Child and Family Agency, if I remember correctly from his earlier reply.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: My focus, however, is on whether the organisations were ultimately at a loss in terms of-----

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: It is for one year only. We all know that great work has been done by youth organisations throughout the country.

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: There is a very marginal increase in the provision for the current year. Based on my exposure in my community and across my constituency, I can attest without question that the money directed to youth organisations and services is well spent. The Minister has outlined the various programmes and services that are supported under subhead B6. There is no end to confirmation of my point on...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: I wish to refer to the area-based childhood programme. The Minister referred during the last exchange to grants to organisations that were partly funded. The grants covered a single year. The area-based childhood programme covers four years, from 2013 to 2016, inclusive. We know that Atlantic Philanthropies is closing down its support structures next year. While I acknowledge that there...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: We all have had exposure to the various initiatives supported under the dormant accounts funding provision. I acknowledge the great work being done in this regard, not least the Big Brother Big Sister initiative, in which I know people who are directly involved. It is a fine initiative. I am not singling it out but referring to it because I am knowledgeable about it and because it operates...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: The cut in current spending from 2014 to 2015 of €888,000 is a significant sum. Apart from the Department's grant year, it represents the single largest decrease in terms of current spending. What is the expected impact of the loss of €888,000 across the important programmes supported by the Department, which include the missing child hotline and a number of others which are...

Committee on Health and Children: Select Sub-Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2015
Vote 40 - Children and Youth Affairs (Revised) (3 Feb 2015)

Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin: The Minister is assuring us there will be no negative impact, but the funding is moving in Tusla. I ask him to translate this for me. Will Tusla take on some of the roles and functions? Is it undertaking to maintain and sustain the services that have been provided under these various headings in 2014 in the current year 2015? How will it work in practice?