Results 241-260 of 19,925 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Data (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: Each year Pobal compiles data from Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) providers as part of the Early Years Sector Profile. The most recently published fee data for the 2023/24 programme year indicates that the average (median) weekly fee per child before subsidies was €190.00 for full day early learning and care. The fee data shows that there is a large...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Expenditure (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government. Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2023/24 shows that the estimated number of enrolments increased by approximately 19% from the 2021/22 programme year. Core Funding application data shows that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Programme for Government commits to ensure that providers’ fees are open, transparent and equitable and readily available to parents. Fee management was introduced under Core Funding. Since the launch of that scheme in September 2022, Partner Services have agreed to an effective fee freeze whereby they will not increase fees above those charged on 30 September 2021. In the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Health Services Staff (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy. However, the State is not an employer of staff and neither I, nor my Department, set pay or working conditions....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Health Services Staff (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1229, 1230 and 1231 together. I acknowledge that many early learning and care and school-age childcare services report staffing challenges in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, these staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover. The most recent published...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: My Department is currently implementing Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028. It aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector and to raise the profile of careers in the sector. Aligned to the Programme for Government commitment to introduce an ‘Earn and Learn’...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: Currently in Ireland there is no regulator for the profession, but some elements of the regulation of the profession are already in place, particularly through the requirement for a minimum qualification. Adherence to minimum qualification requirements is monitored through regulation of services. The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Amendment) Regulations 2016, requires that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Programme for Government sets out the ambition to work with schools to host before and after-school childcare in school buildings as well as planning the development of State-led early learning and childcare facilities in tandem with the school building programme, specifically referencing Irish medium naíonraí. Last year, the Department of Education published Procedures on...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The Guidelines are intended to ensure a consistency of approach throughout the country to the treatment of applications in respect to the land use planning aspects of early learning and childcare provision, for relevant planning...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) was introduced in 2016 to ensure that children with additional needs or a disability could access and meaningfully participate in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. In line with a commitment in First 5: A Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families 2019-2028, an independent evaluation of AIM was...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: In September 2024, my Department commenced the rollout of Equal Start, a major model of supports to ensure children experiencing disadvantage can access and meaningfully participate in early learning and childcare. Equal Start includes a suite of universal, child-targeted and setting-targeted supports to ensure every child, and every early learning and childcare setting will benefit from a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Data (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Early Learning and Childcare (ECCE) Programme is provided for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week over 38 weeks per year. All children can avail of two full years of the Programme. The Deputy has requested the cost of providing an additional hour per day of the ECCE Programme for all children in their second year of the Programme. To calculate this cost officials in my Department first...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: As the subject matter of the Deputy's question relates to an operational matter for Tusla, I have referred the matter to them for a direct reply.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Early Learning and Childcare sector is diverse, and the application for Core Funding is built to flex to this diversity. The application is dynamic and allows an individual service to input their capacity in the most logical way for their service. This makes it difficult to isolate a room that is explicitly a “Baby Room”. Instead, the table below outlines the number of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: Over the course of 5 calendar years, 2020 – 2025, the total number of community service providers that have entered the sector is 114. Over the same period, the total number of community service providers that have left the sector is 113. The first of the two tables provides the number of community service providers that have entered the sector over the last 5 calendar years (2020...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower early learning and care providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme and reap the benefits...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Schemes (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched on 4th November 2024 and subsequently closed for applications on 30th January 2025. A total of 78 applications were received. Of those 78 applications, 49 have been shortlisted for funding under this scheme and are progressing to the next stage of the process. These 49 applications come from a mix of Community Extension (24),...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: In a very competitive labour market and with low levels of unemployment, recruitment and retention is a challenge for all employers, especially in low-paid sectors. Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (10 Jun 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1253, 1254, 1255 and 1256 together. Statutory and operational responsibility for the delivery of child protection and welfare services is a matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Deputy is seeking information in relation to an operational matter for Tusla. Consequently, I have referred the matter to Tusla, who have confirmed that a reply will...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Data (29 May 2025)

Norma Foley: I wish to advise the Deputy that my officials have asked Oberstown Children Detention Campus to respond directly to you on this matter.