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An Bille um an Naoú Leasú is Tríocha ar an mBunreacht (An Teaghlach), 2023: An Dara Céim - Thirty-ninth Amendment of the Constitution (The Family) Bill 2023: Second Stage (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tairgim: "Go léifear an Bille an Dara hUair anois." I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." Today, I am bringing before the House two Bills the aim of which is to update our Constitution to reflect the values of a modern, inclusive Ireland. Words are important. As the fundamental law of Ireland, the words in our Constitution are particularly important. They have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy very much. The capital grants are a key part of our ability to expand capacity. It is important to note that the core funding we have introduced is also being used to expand capacity. We have added money in each of the two years since it was initially introduced to allow for a growth in capacity. Many services are actually expanding capacity as a result of the extra...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Direct Provision System (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In the same way that a school must have a designated liaison person in terms of its implementation of Children First, so must IPAS centres which have children there. I am aware that not all of them have children there, but those that do have to require that. We have an officer in our Department making sure there is compliance with that because that is absolutely essential. I acknowledge...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Direct Provision System (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In terms of the future obligation on the State to accommodate an increased number of protection applicants from what we were dealing with over the past ten years, I have been clear that I believe we need to have a much higher percentage of those applicants accommodated in State-owned accommodation. Where we have State-owned accommodation, we have better control over the conditions. We have...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The award-winning access and inclusion model, AIM, has supported more than 27,000 children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme since it was first introduced in September 2016. A commitment to expand AIM beyond the ECCE programme was first made in the First 5 strategy. The fulfilment of this commitment is informed by an independent evaluation of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: What we are achieving with AIM is obviously very much focused on early years and allowing the greatest degree of integration possible in order that children are able to participate within the mainstream ECCE programme, initially just for three hours per day, five days a week, but subsequently increasing that according to the additional funding. Children with a physical, intellectual or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy has raised this with me consistently over the past year. I am delighted to be able to say that earlier this week I announced pillar 2 of Building Blocks - the capacity grants. These are capital grants available to childcare providers, as the Deputy says, in the community and private sectors, to increase their capacity and grow the number of children they can provide services to....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: In terms of our response to everybody who spent time, even one day, within a mother and baby home or county home institution, we have set out the action plan with a range of actions. The initial action was the State apology by An Taoiseach delivered in early 2021 to all people who spent any time in these institutions. In terms of other elements, however, as I said, the information and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The action plan the Government brought forward in response to the commission's report is directed at all survivors, irrespective of the time they spent in an institution. There are various elements to that action plan. The institutional payment scheme is one important element, but it is not the sole element in terms of the Government's response. I outlined in my earlier response to Deputy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Direct Provision System (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As of 5 December, just over 100,000 Ukrainian nationals have been granted temporary protection in Ireland. As the Deputy knows, we are accommodating approximately 75,000 of those in State-provided accommodation. We are also accommodating just over 26,000 people in the international protection system. In that context, the underlying assumptions upon which the initial White Paper was...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The mother and baby institutions payment scheme will provide financial payments to an estimated 34,000 people, some 19,000 of whom will also benefit from an enhanced medical card or health support payment. The benefits are in recognition of experiences while resident in mother and baby and county home institutions. The overall cost of the payment scheme is €800 million. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will take Deputy Bruton's points first. Having listened to the sector, we have made significant changes to the document he showed there. He is right. Remember the sector is very wide and the nature of providers is very different. We cannot have a one-size-fits-all approach but that is how we need to understand what is the cost base of that small service down the road operated out of...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: We have discussed this before. In October 2022, the Government made an order under the Institutional Burials Act 2022 to direct an intervention at the site of the former mother and baby institution in Tuam. The Government order specifies that the functions of the director of authorised intervention in Tuam include carrying out an identification programme to seek to establish familial links....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The legislation sets out who can give DNA at the moment. Obviously legislation can be changed. If there is a clear scientific basis that we will be able to identify with at least a similar degree of precision, I have no stated objection against making that change. If something specific has changed in the past 12 months, I am happy to look at it. I am not sure if the Deputy has something...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I recently established an administrative scheme to allow for the collection of samples on a purely voluntary basis from elderly and vulnerable people in advance of the start of the statutory identification programme. Any person can contact the office of the director of authorised intervention for details. We thought that was important, recognising the age of some of the people involved,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Providers that had an active core funding contract during the 2022-23 programme year must provide validated financial returns as per their core funding partner service funding agreement. Having heard the concerns Deputy Funchion spoke to there, officials in my Department have, in recent weeks, engaged constructively with key stakeholders on this requirement. Four meetings have taken...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: We heard the issues that have been raised by Deputies and following the committee hearings that were held. I heard them myself in my constituency and around the country when meeting childcare providers. We have moved significantly. I am not going to say the agreement from groups was 100%, but we have moved significantly to address many of the key concerns that were raised. It is important...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Is the Deputy talking about residential care?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will come back to the Deputy with the exact figures. My recollection is that on an annual basis, we are looking at about €17,000 per year for foster care. The figure for residential care is over €100,000. This is without talking about the value for the child, but in terms of pure value for money foster care is of much more benefit to the State. It is, of course, for the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Children in Care (14 Dec 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I disagree with the Deputy. The State very much values the work that is being done in terms of foster care families across the country and the importance of supporting that. I have worked to support that in terms of the significant increase in the allowance I outlined earlier. I met Movement for Change in Foster Care and the Irish Foster Care Association, IFCA, in the past number of...