Results 2,281-2,300 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Child Care Education (26 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children before commencing primary school. Approximately 67,000 children are availing of the provision in the current academic year. The free pre-school provision represents an annual investment of approximately €175 million. The standard capitation fee paid to participating...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Expenditure (26 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The figures in relation to the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, requested by the Deputy, are as follows: Year No. of children enrolled Funding 2011/12 26,504 €51 million 2012/13 24,907 €44.5 million 2013/14 23,728 €43 million The subvention funding is provided to community childcare services to enable them to reduce the weekly fees charged to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Preschool Services (26 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The introduction of a second free pre-school year for children with special needs would mean the putting in place of an assessment process whereby a range of childcare specialists would evaluate the diverse needs of such children and confirm diagnosis and severity of disability. I am not in a position to estimate what the cost would be but it seems likely that very substantial investment...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Ministerial Advisers Remuneration (26 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: No severance packages have been paid to any special advisor in my Department. The persons referred to in the details supplied by the Deputy have not been employed in this Department.

Leaders' Questions (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: This is a Second Stage speech.

Leaders' Questions (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: Respect the law and respect this Chamber.

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The Deputy points out one issue in the report. I am very concerned about the issue of child poverty. I note that the overall report gave the Government a "C" in respect of issues to do with child care and children. However, child poverty is a matter of serious concern, which the Government will tackle through various interactions between different Departments. Clearly, we are concerned...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: I have made it clear that jobs are very important, but there are a number of programmes supporting families in the area of child care, such as the child care employment and training support scheme, the community employment child care schemes and after-school programmes. These programmes will help parents to get back to work and break the cycle of poverty. Equally, it is very clear that we...

Other Questions: Youth Services Provision (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The national youth strategy will focus on the youth-related policy commitments outlined in Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the national policy framework for children and young people. It will be a universal strategy for all young people aged ten to 24. It will have a particular focus on those who are most disadvantaged or at risk and who have the poorest outcomes and are, therefore, in...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: As I have said on a number of occasions, there is no uniformity of support for special needs children across the country. This has been quantified and will be part of the work of the interdepartmental group. The Department of Education and Skills is working on this at the moment. Many children are in the ECCE programme but are not immediately identifiable as special-needs children from the...

Other Questions: Homelessness Strategy (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: As the Deputy will be aware, on 4 December 2014, the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government hosted a special summit on homelessness to reaffirm the Government's commitment to ending involuntary long-term homelessness, including that of families with children, by the end of 2016. A number of actions arising from the summit were formalised into an action plan to address...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: I assure the Deputy that it will be taken very seriously. It is one of the serious issues for the interdepartmental group to examine. As I stated earlier, we have all the key actors involved in this group: the Department of Social Protection; the Department of Education and Skills; the Department of Health, which is leading it; the Department of Finance; and the Department of Public...

Other Questions: Child Detention Centres (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The Deputy asked me if I had confidence in the management at Oberstown to ensure that we have standards in place that are safe. I have confidence in the management there. They have put in place a plan that will address the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, report. The actions and the timelines are agreed with HIQA. That is certainly our intention. However, there has to be a...

Other Questions: Child Detention Centres (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: I will cover the McElfatrick issue as well, but in regard to this Bill, we have had a huge number of complications in what seemed like a simple piece of legislation. When it is being examined by parliamentary counsel, questions come back in volumes with regard to policy issues, etc. We are dealing with them. We would like to see it expedited. We want to meet our commitment and we will. ...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: With the indulgence of the Chamber, I will answer this question, which has been raised frequently today, because it is a very important issue and a very important area. We are talking about the early childhood care and education programme, which provides one preschool year to qualifying children before they commence primary school. The ECCE programme is a free and universal programme to...

Other Questions: Child Detention Centres (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The programme for Government commits us to end the practice of detaining children in adult prison facilities. Significant progress has been made in implementing this important objective. Before this Government took office, both 16 year old and 17 year old boys were detained in the adult prison system. The transfer of responsibility for 16 year old boys to the children detention schools was...

Other Questions: Child Detention Centres (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: A campaign is ongoing to recruit more than 60 new care staff for the operation of the expanded Oberstown campus, and 38 staff have been recruited to date. My Department is making progress on the necessary legal changes required to transfer responsibility for 17 year old boys from adult prison facilities by amending the Children Act 2001. It is intended that the Bill to give full effect to...

Other Questions: Early Child Care Education (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: I am very concerned that this issue will be examined. The best context in which to look at it is the interdepartmental group. It is appropriate that the roles of the HSE and the Child and Family Agency in supporting families are considered when examining funding for special needs assistants for older school-going children. We are trying to support parents to come out of poverty. We want...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: The interdepartmental group will be critical in assessing these issues. Children with special needs should not be taken out of that group but should be treated within that group with the same respect and degree of analysis and scrutiny as all other groups. As I said, many children with disabilities participate in the free preschool year without seeking the exemptions that I mentioned...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions: Services for People with Disabilities (24 Feb 2015)

James Reilly: I would not suggest that. Deputy Healy's concern, interest and bona fides in this area are clear and sincere. However, I am pointing out the dangers of unintended consequences. Taking this group out of the main group will not serve their purposes as well as leaving them in the mainstream group. The thrust of our educational approach for children with special needs is to support them in...