Results 2,201-2,220 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: A total of €54,364.60 was spent by my Department in 2018 on air travel.  My Department uses a Public Service Framework for the Provision of Travel Management Services and the company providing these services seeks best value quotations on behalf of the Department.  The figure quoted includes all official and Ministerial air travel.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: A total of €4,382 was spent by my Department on the cost of newspapers in 2018. This includes printed newspapers and subscription services to two online paper services. 

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services Data (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I have written to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency to request this information. A further response will issue to the Deputy when I have received their reply.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised me that the Board of Tusla was not furnished with a copy of the report referred to by the Deputy. A copy of the report was furnished to the Chairperson of the Special Inquiries Committee, a sub-committee of the Board, in April 2018.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Services (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The issue of parental consent, within the context of play therapy, does not fall under the remit of my Department. This issue falls under the remit of the HSE.  The question is therefore more appropriate for my colleague the Minister for Health, Deputy Simon Harris.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Youth Service Grant Scheme (YSGS) provides funding, on an annual basis, to 30 national and major regional voluntary organisations. The continued funding of voluntary youth organisations through the Scheme is intended to ensure the emergence, promotion, growth and development of youth organisations with distinctive philosophies and programmes aimed at the social education of young people....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Records Provision (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am committed to the enactment of the Adoption ( Information & Tracing) Bill 2016. This important legislation will give adopted people, people who have been the subject of an illegal birth registration, birth parents and relevant guardians a statutory right to an information and tracing service.  It also provides that relevant records will be maintained by the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Records Provision (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am committed to the process of notifying people who are affected by illegal registrations identified on the files of St. Patrick's Guild and providing these individuals with as much information as possible regarding their identity. Tusla social workers are supporting these individuals as they deal with the news that they have been illegally registered at birth. The information that an...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Records Provision (22 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I understand that St. Patrick's Guild Adoption Society ceased operations in December 2014.  Its records were transferred to Tusla in May 2016. This has ensured that the relevant records are safeguarded and can be accessed for information and tracing services. The liquidation or otherwise of the Society is not a matter for the Minister. The Society is no longer an accredited body under...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank my Independent colleagues for raising the fourth interim report of the commission of investigation into mother and baby homes and certain related matters, which deals with the questions being asked today. The commission was established to investigate the conditions in mother and baby homes and county homes in the period from 1922 to 1998. The scope of the investigation is broad. It...

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputies, most of whom asked when the request came in. It was received in December.

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is an interim report. There are procedures in terms of the establishment of the independent commission and the commission has requested an extension for the completion of its work. That request must be presented to Government, which must agree or not to it. Once that has happened, there will be the publishing of the report. That is the process and those are the procedures. I intend to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Each year Pobal conducts research on behalf of my Department to examine a number of factors related to childcare services in Ireland, including the monitoring of capacity. The Early Years Sector Profile report, which was published in November and relates to the 2017/2018 programme year, indicates that existing childcare provision, in general, meets current needs nationwide in terms of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a model of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the ECCE programme. AIM is a child-centred model, involving seven levels of progressive support, moving from the universal to the targeted, based on the needs of the child and the pre-school service. The model is designed to be responsive to the needs of each individual...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Data (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am advised by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that it has procured and implemented a portal for handling subject access requests. The portal allows an individual to submit a request to access information on a personal file held by Tusla. The portal is a secure online tool that is accessible through the Tusla website at Tusla has advised that when a data access request is received...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services Funding (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is the duty of an Early Learning and Care (ELC) service provider to take all reasonable measures to safeguard the health, safety and welfare of the children attending the service and to comply with the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016. The Child and Family Agency, Tusla, has a statutory responsibility to assess levels of compliance with these Regulations, and has...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (17 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy might note that my Department administered a number of capital programmes and schemes over the past five years. An examination is underway to identify what costs, if any, were incurred on accountancy and consultancy services and I will revert to the Deputy on the matter again in the near future when the required information is available.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Data (16 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 235 and 236 together. At 31 December 2018, there were 277 employees (headcount) in my Department. Of these, 221 are at the grade of Executive Officer or higher and therefore have sanction to authorise payments, subject to the following limits, as well as other restrictions: Grade Authorisation Limit Executive Officer or higher €1,000 Higher...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Process (16 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is the Minister’s intention to progress to Committee Stage of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 in the Seanad Éireann as quickly as possible. This is an important piece of legislation as it provides adopted people and other relevant people with statutory rights to information and to a tracing service. It will also protect relevant records by bringing them...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Process (16 Jan 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is my intention to progress to Committee Stage of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 in the Seanad Éireann as quickly as possible. It is intended that a number of Government amendments will be proposed at Committee Stage or Report Stage. These are still being finalised. Some of these amendments seek to address concerns raised about elements of the Bill during the...