Results 18,921-18,940 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mental Health Services Provision (26 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 174 to 177, inclusive, together. Tusla, along with other agencies, provides counselling and support to children and families availing of the Agency's services including children who have been abused sexually. I am advised by Tusla that it does not collect data on waiting times for children to access counselling services. Where children have suffered sexual...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Process (26 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: Two pieces of legislation have been subjected to pre-legislative scrutiny by the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs since 2011. These are the Children First Bill 2014 which is currently before the Houses of the Oireachtas and the Child Care Act (Amendment)/Aftercare Bill which is currently being drafted. The Minister intends to submit the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill for...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: After-School Support Services (26 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The objective of the After-School Childcare (ASCC) programme is to support low-income and unemployed people to take up a job, increase their days of employment or take up a place on a Department of Social Protection employment programme. The programme, which provides after-school care for primary school children of eligible parents for a period of 52 weeks, contributes €40 per week...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Contracts Data (26 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The Deputy might note that my Department did not award any contract or tender to the company in question.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: As the Deputy is aware, the recommendation that the Child and Family Agency would conduct a longitudinal study to follow young people who leave care for ten years to map their transition to adulthood, is contained at action 65 of the Ryan Report recommendations. At the last meeting of the Ryan Monitoring Implementation Group, held on 6th November 2014, the Child and Family Agency indicated...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Abuse Prevention (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (the Ryan Report) was published in May 2009. It detailed disturbing and significant levels of historic abuse of children, who were placed by the Irish State, in residential institutions run by religious orders. The Government accepted all of the recommendations of the Ryan Report, and in response developed a detailed Implementation...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Social Workers Recruitment (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The Child and Family Agency (TUSLA) have advised that there were 1,397.04 whole time equivalent social workers employed at the end of February 2015 and that they are currently recruiting an additional 218 social workers. The impact of vacancies on service provision is risk-assessed on an ongoing basis to ensure that social work team members are never allowed to fall below what is considered...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Strategy Publication (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The development of Ireland’s first Early Years Strategy is being progressed in my Department. The objective of this Strategy is to create an innovative and dynamic blueprint for the future development of Ireland’s early years sector and a coherent approach to seeking to improve the lives of children from birth to 6 years. The Early Years Strategy will address a range of issues...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Data (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: A recommendation to carry out a baseline audit of the quality of early care and education services was set out in Right from the Start, the Report of the Expert Advisory Group on the Early Years Strategy. This recommendation is currently being considered by my Department in the context of developing Ireland's first Early Years Strategy. I expect to be in a position to bring this Strategy...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Qualifications (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: My Department is currently progressing the Early Years Quality Agenda with the objective of improving the quality of child care services available to young children. As part of this process, all staff working directly with children in pre-school services must hold a major award in early childhood care and education at Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications, or the equivalent....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Child Care Education (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free and universal programme to which all children who are within the age range for eligibility and who hold an Irish PPS number qualify. This includes children from ethnic minorities and children with special needs. Approximately 65,000 children are availing of the programme in the current school year with children born...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Commissions of Inquiry (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: The Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (The Ryan Report) was published in 2009 and detailed disturbing and significant levels of historic abuse of Irish children who were placed, by the State, in residential institutions run by religious orders. The Government accepted all of the recommendations of the Ryan Report, and in response developed an Implementation Plan. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Cafés Provision (31 Mar 2015)

James Reilly: In 2013, €1.5m in capital funding was made available to my Department for a Youth Café scheme. Pobal assisted my Department to administer this scheme. In all 95 applications with proposals were received and some 30 proposals for new youth cafés facilities around the country were approved for funding. These projects are now working with Pobal to develop their projects to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Refuges (1 Apr 2015)

James Reilly: Responsibility for the funding of Domestic, Sexual and Gender Based Violence Services transferred from the HSE to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, upon its establishment on 1 January, 2014. In 2014, Tusla provided funding in excess of over €17 million to support the provision of these services. This included the funding of some 60 services throughout the country: -...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (1 Apr 2015)

James Reilly: Crannog Nua, in Co. Dublin, has been designated as a secure special care unit from June 2014, and is in the process of being upgraded to provide secure and expanded residential facilities. Up to this time in 2014, it was operational as a high support unit. Staff from the residential component of this unit have been temporarily reassigned to other locations while the capital project is...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Supports (1 Apr 2015)

James Reilly: Fostering care allowances are provided in order to allow foster carers meet all of the child’s daily living needs, e.g. food, clothing, school uniform, school books, extra-curricular activities, school trips, pocket money (depending on the age of the child), and treats such as toys, games or holidays. The foster care allowance is currently €325 per week per child up to 12 years...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Protection Services (15 Apr 2015)

James Reilly: I would like to correct the record of the House and the Deputy's point of view. There has been no reduction in the number of social workers. As of January 2015, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised that a total of 19,926 children were in receipt of a dedicated social work service. A further 7,787 children who would benefit from an allocated social worker were awaiting the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Protection Services (15 Apr 2015)

James Reilly: I am glad the Deputy accepts there is no reduction in social workers. By way of further answer to his question I note that as part of Tusla's business planning process for 2015, I requested that an action plan be developed setting out the proposed measures to tackle the issue of unallocated cases. Tusla has commenced a national review of cases awaiting allocation this month to determine if...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Child Protection Services (15 Apr 2015)

James Reilly: In the opening lines of my reply to the question, I confirmed the numbers for the Deputy. Measuring the pressure, which is done quarterly, there is a 48.6% drop in the number of children in the high priority category who are awaiting allocation to a social worker for less than three months from 2,046 in quarter 4, 2013, to 1,051 in quarter 4, 2014. We are making progress but we must make...