Results 281-300 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to advise that my officials have asked Tusla to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Living Wage (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy may be aware, any adjustments to the salaries of public and civil servants are set out in the Public Service Stability Agreement (PSSA) 2018-2020. A suggested living wage of €12.30 per hour would equate to an annual salary of €23,747, based on a standard civil service net working week of 37 hours. DPER Circular 22/2019 sets out the adjustments to the pay of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that a response issued directly to the Deputy on this matter on the 10 March, 2020.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) opened to online applications on 20 November. Paper based applications are also now available. The Scheme provides the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. There has been a very high volume of applications so far. Over 31,500 applications, relating to over 40,900 children, have already been successfully submitted and over...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) opened to online applications on the 20th November. Paper based applications are also now available. The Scheme provides the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. It is an innovative, user-friendly scheme to help parents meet the cost of quality childcare. The development of the Scheme is a significant move forward in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Community Childcare Subvention Programme (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1086, 1087 and 1091 together. The Deputy will be aware that investment in the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) sector has increased by an unprecedented 141% over the last five budgets, with funding totalling €638m in 2020. Ensuring that this fund is appropriately accounted for, and that as many children as possible benefit...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The number of ECCE hours that a child is eligible to receive is contingent upon the attendance of the child at their ECCE service. Since September 2018, all children meeting the minimum age requirement of 2 years and 8 months are eligible for two full programme years on the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The ECCE programme is offered for 3 hours per day, up to 5 days...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not employ staff working in the early learning and care or school age childcare sector. Community based services, as with privately operated services, employ staff to provide services which may be subsidised under programmes funded by my Department. With regard to the number of childcare practitioners required to be present in a service, the minimum adult to child...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not require early learning and care providers to sign contracts for the various childcare programmes in advance of receiving a copy of the programme and funding rules. In order for service providers to be eligible to receive subsidies in respect of childcare funding programmes, it is a condition that they enter into a funding agreement with my Department prior to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The information requested is contained in the following table: Spending on Media Publications 2017 to 2020 (all figures in Euros): 2017 2018 2019 2020 Digital Reach Home Delivery 160 170.8 214.18 59.97 Post Publications Ltd. 169.99 169.99 169.99 ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Data (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: My Department's main IT services are currently provided by the Office of the Chief Government Information Officer (OGCIO). IT took over this role on the 2nd of December 2019 when my Department moved to the ‘Build to Share’ model of service provision. The OGCIO has provided me with the most update figures for the top 10 websites visited by my Department as follows: ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Abuse (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: I would like to thank the Deputy for bringing to my attention that he did not receive a reply to his initial question from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and wish to apologise to the Deputy for the inconvenience. I am informed by Tusla that a direct reply issued to the Deputy in early March, which stated that 2019 figures were expected in early Q2 2020. I have therefore written to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Schemes (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has never expected service providers to make up for Bank Holidays on the ECCE scheme. Weeks with Bank Holidays are considered as full weeks and service providers are paid for a full five days. Bank Holidays are automatically pre-populated on each provider’s service calendar. These do not impact on a service provider’s obligation...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free, two year, universal pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. A child must be aged 2 years and 8 months on or before 31 August in order to be eligible and can’t turn 5 years and 6 months during the programme year. There is no provision for a third year. For some children with...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: I would ask the Deputy to advise the individual concerned to contact my Department directly on this matter, and my Department can liaise with Pobal, the Scheme Administrator, on this case to resolve the matter. My Department is unable to verify the status of this individual's application without an application ID being provided. When the individual contacts my Department to provide this...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: We have come a long way in recent years in improving Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) support in Ireland. Investment in ELC and SAC has increased by 141% over the last five years. However, I acknowledge that more investment will be needed. Historic under-investment in early learning and care has created a situation that has no quick solution. The COVID-19...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Refuges Provision (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The response to Domestic, Sexual Violence and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue. Policy is coordinated by the Department of Justice and Equality (DJE). Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is providing Tusla with €25.3m this...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: In line with the requirements of the Child Care Act 1991 (as amended by Part 12 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013), those wishing to operate an early years service are required to register with Tusla for the purposes of inspection and regulation. Each year a number of early years services also decide to close of their own volition. Where an early years service closes, they are also...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) opened to online applications on 20thNovember 2019. I am pleased with the high volume of applications received since the Scheme launched. To date, over 31,500 applications have been received, relating to over 40,900 children. Additionally, 3,646 childcare providers have contracted to participate in the Scheme. The offline, paper based application process...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Public Services Card (13 May 2020)

Katherine Zappone: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) was launched for online applications on 20thNovember 2019 and offline applications on the 13th March 2020. To date, over 31,500 applications have been received relating to over 40,900 children. The Scheme has always been designed such that, when it was fully up and running, applications would be accepted bothonline and offline. A Public Services Card...