Results 2,401-2,420 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Health Promotion (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: Healthy Ireland 2013-25 aims to achieve an island where everyone can enjoy physical and mental health and well-being to their full potential and where well-being is valued and supported at every level of society and is everyone’s responsibility. The three dominant themes of Healthy Ireland are equality, well-being and empowerment. Without equality, we cannot have well-being and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child Detention Centres (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I do not accept the suggestion that my response makes this worse. I appreciate what Deputy Rabbitte is saying but I have been describing a process. There have been a number of reports and reviews, including by HIQA which had sight of the full operational review, accepted the recommendations and accepted that an action plan had been put in place to implement those recommendations. I was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child Detention Centres (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I share deeply the Deputies' concerns for the safety of the children, and support for them in Oberstown. I have been there many times and I am going there this afternoon. I have met staff on their own, management on their own and the children on their own. I want the children and young people to move beyond Oberstown and be free. I have a passion about this, as do my colleagues. Deputy...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Children and Family Services Provision (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy. I also acknowledge the extraordinary work of the Community Foundation for Ireland. I share this with the Deputy. The point raised by her with regard to the gentleman in her example and other unmarried fathers is important. It is great we have the report that has laid this out clearly. The strategy and work already being developed will take account of this and...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Children and Family Services Provision (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy has made excellent points and I will bring them back to the Department. As the Deputy knows, the First 5 strategy is whole-of-Government and cross-departmental. It is within this context I have been answering that new strategies and support for parents will operate. The Deputy is right that we need to take a look at working across Departments. I share with the Deputy the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child Detention Centres (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 11 and 14 together. In September 2016, the Oberstown board of management commissioned an external independent review of operations and best practice at the campus. The review was undertaken by two international experts in this field, Professor Barry Goldson and Professor Nicholas Hardwick. The board carefully reviewed each recommendation made in the...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: 11 o’clock These are serious issues. I share the Deputy's concerns. How Tusla will assure itself, and me, that the practice on the ground is being improved is an important question. A key aspect of Tusla's management team is quality assurance. It is responsible for conducting internal monitoring and audit exercises of the different aspects of the agency's work. That includes...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Early Years Sector (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy. My Department provides public subsidies through both private and community services to facilitate access to early learning and care and school age childcare services throughout the country. The 117% increase in investment in early learning and care and school age childcare since 2015 has doubled the number of children accessing the subsidies. The 2017-8 annual...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Early Years Sector (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I share the Deputy's commitment to trusting parents and I hope that is implicit as a principle underneath all we are doing. He asked about establishing effectively a State model of provision. It is something we investigated significantly in the process of preparing for the First 5 strategy. Ultimately, we made a decision that in terms of the kind of model we have now, we would be able to...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Early Years Sector (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: No. I will come back to that in a moment, and I think the Deputy knows my answer to that. As he said, in the context of the First 5 strategy, we are laying out, using a whole-of-Government approach, the various Departments responsible to support parents in the raising of their children. There will be a new parental leave and benefits scheme for 2019 available to both parents; additional...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Children and Family Services Provision (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy. I welcome the research report prepared by Treoir, which highlights the unique circumstances that unmarried fathers face in sharing parental responsibility. The report makes a number of recommendations, which are under review by my officials. Under the national planning framework, Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, we identified the importance of supporting parents as one...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Affordable Childcare Scheme Implementation (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for those questions. The information I have on the school-age process is that the regulations are being worked on. As I understand it, they are on target. The objective is that, when we fully launch the affordable childcare scheme, it will be possible to include the groups or providers that offer services in that context. The Deputy asked about legislation. I...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Affordable Childcare Scheme Implementation (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: Money for the creation of a team of childminding development officers has been allocated under budget 2019. As I understand it, recruitment of childminding development officers is on target. They will be available through the city and county childcare committees. I will revert to the Deputy on numbers. The intention is to have a nationwide system. As we have the city and county childcare...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for his important question. As the chairman of the tribunal, Mr. Justice Peter Charleton, noted in his report, this tribunal was about calling the Garda to account. The recommendations of the report are mainly a matter for An Garda Síochána. A relatively small portion of the report concerns Tusla. Although it does not make specific recommendations about Tusla,...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate the Deputy's passion regarding this matter. I share it. He is right to raise these questions. I am really struggling to find the right word. "Pleased" is not the right word but it is good that we have the tribunal's report in this regard. It complements the HIQA statutory investigation, to which I referred. These are serious matters. The first point the Deputy made was...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Early Years Sector (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate the concerns raised by Deputy Mitchell, which I share. What the report demonstrates is that the fees have increased but only by 2% this year compared to 4% the previous year so that demonstrates that we are monitoring it and asking the providers to pay attention to it. Second, as the Deputy knows, because of the lack of investment for so many years, given that costs are going...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Early Years Sector (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: What I am saying is that in the context of the model we have, I have done some significant things in order to encourage improvements in pay and conditions for childcare professionals and I need the co-operation of employers and providers. It is not that nothing is happening; things are happening. However, as Deputy Mitchell points out, we can only do so much within the context of that...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Affordable Childcare Scheme Implementation (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: The new affordable childcare scheme will open to applications in October 2019 with payments flowing from November 2019. Its launch will mark a milestone in our quest to transform Ireland's childcare system from one of the most expensive in the world into one of the best. Positive progress continues to be made in the development of the legislative, administrative and ICT infrastructure for...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency Services (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I imagine the Deputy will join me in welcoming the children and young people to the Gallery this morning. Action 1.4 of the Tusla corporate plan concerns several commitments to address specific issues for children and families experiencing homelessness or who are in emergency accommodation. The particular initiatives include co-operation in multi-agency responses, linkage of Tusla child...

Ceisteanna - Questions - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh – Priority Questions: Child and Family Agency Services (13 Dec 2018)

Katherine Zappone: I acknowledge the number of children in emergency accommodation. I carry an awareness of that with me each day. I have visited several hubs not only in my constituency but in other places as well. Deputy Rabbitte's question is important. It spurs me and provides motivation to have ongoing communication with the Minister for Housing, Planning and Local Government, Deputy Eoghan Murphy....