Results 1-20 of 4,367 for speaker:Claire Kerrane

Childcare: Motion (7 May 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I am stunned by the amendment the Minister has tabled to the motion. The motion seeks nothing more than for the Government to implement what the Minister outlined in the programme for Government and seeks further information and detail on the Government's commitment to our early years sector in the programme for Government, and the Minister could not even support that. The amendment refers...

Childcare: Motion (7 May 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I move: That Dáil Éireann: recognises: — the challenges that exist in the Early Years Sector, including for parents trying to afford and access childcare places and for educators when it comes to pay and terms and conditions; — the thousands of children on waiting lists for childcare places; — the serious deficiencies in capacity in our Childcare Sector;...

Report of the Farrelly Commission: Statements (1 May 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I want to acknowledge the way the Minister went about making the rearrangements for this debate this morning and I thank her. Grace was 10 years old when she entered the foster care placement that is at the heart of the commission report. It was due to be a temporary placement in 1989. We cannot remind ourselves enough that she was a 10-year-old girl, a child, and she was without a...

Special Education: Motion [Private Members] (30 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: It is totally unacceptable that in our State in 2025, children have no guarantee of an appropriate class place to meet their needs. An appropriate class place for children with additional needs will ensure that they can engage and fully participate in the classroom the same as any other child, and an appropriate class place must also be in the child's community. Why would we be busing our...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Qualifications (30 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: 153. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an update on the action that has been undertaken in furtherance of the stated commitment in the Programme for Government to introduce an ‘earn and learn’ apprenticeship model enabling childcare staff to gain qualifications and advance their careers; and if she will make a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: In our own proposal on the €200 per month, we looked at using the national childcare scheme and expanding it to childminders. That would really assist in building capacity in the sector because for many parents, the choice is no longer there. If they want to get the subsidy and need help in affording childcare, they have to look to the formal setting whereas in rural areas in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I wish to ask the Minister about the cost of childcare, which remains very high for a lot of parents and families. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to reduce the cost of childcare. How does the Minister intend to go about this and does she have a timeframe in mind for reducing the costs for families?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: Does the Minister envisage investing more in the national childcare scheme to bring down the costs directly for parents? This is what Sinn Féin had proposed with our €10 per day plan, which is around €200 per month. This is using what is there with the current mechanism as the quickest way to bring down the costs of childcare. While the Government repeatedly tells us...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: This is an issue I have raised on a number of occasions with the Minister. I welcome the fact she has met and engaged with the JLC and that she has gone further than that in asking it to utilise the €45 million because it is key we improve pay for the early years educators. We know staff turnover in the early years sector is really high. I got a breakdown, county by county. The...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: The Minister will be aware SIPTU is raising concerns about the fact the talks have been ongoing for a number of months and it feels there is a gap between the providers and those representing the early years educators and managers in the childcare settings. It is really important. It is good we have had the opportunity here this evening to make that call and to ask for the joint labour...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: 87. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide an update on ongoing pay talks for early years educators. [21194/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I ask for an update on the ongoing talks on pay, particularly regarding the €45 million announced in budget 2025 that will be ring-fenced for pay for our early years educators.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. There was something really stark in the response to the report's publication. Usually, we would be shocked by such failures and grave injustices but on the back of this report's publication, we saw widespread disbelief and disappointment concerning what the report was all about. It took a very long time to conclude the report - eight years - and it has...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I appreciate the steps the Minister has taken and the work that will be undertaken on the back of the report specific to this case, and rightly so, as that needs to be done, but I also want to impress on the Minister the need to look at the care system today. The Children's Residential and Aftercare Voluntary Association has repeatedly called for a review of Ireland's care system. It has...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: 83. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to respond to the finding of the final substantive report of the commission of investigation into certain matters relative to a disability service in the south east and related matters, also known as the Farrelly commission, volumes 1 and 2; and the planned next steps in response. [21193/25]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Commissions of Investigation (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I ask the Minister to respond to the report of the Farrelly commission into what has usually been termed the Grace case. More importantly, I want to know what the Minister's next steps will be and what she plans to do in response. I appreciate that much of this is HSE-related and there are a lot of questions for the HSE to answer. We are reminded that when Grace was failed in the first...

Unnecessary Hip Surgeries at Children's Health Ireland: Motion [Private Members] (29 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: I will raise a number of points about all of this as a TD who has been contacted by a number of parents who have received letters informing them that the surgery that took place on their very young children may not actually have been necessary. I will refer first to the timeline. On Thursday, 13 March, The Ditch published an article providing details of what it said was the external report...

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Telecommunications Infrastructure (10 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: 29. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he has engaged with telecommunication companies in relation to phone lines still being out, 70 days after storm Éowyn; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17924/25]

Written Answers — Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment: Waste Management (10 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: 48. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he is aware that waste companies have not provided brown compost bins to customers as per the legislation which came into effect in January 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17923/25]

Written Answers — Department of Public Expenditure and Reform: Departmental Inquiries (10 Apr 2025)

Claire Kerrane: 177. To ask the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to provide an update on a claim (details supplied) made to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18135/25]