Results 4,181-4,200 of 11,187 for speaker:Colm Burke

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I am talking about the Ukraine response.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: In relation to the roll-out my understanding is that the Irish Red Cross received a significant number of submissions as far back as April and May and the local authorities were allocated the role of doing the inspections. My understanding is that a large number of people have still not been contacted, one way or the other, nine months later.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: That is not true.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: That is not true.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: That is not true and I have clear evidence that it is not true. I have plenty of examples where it did not happen. I will give one example of a person who was contacted but was unable to take the call at the time because they were on another call. When the person rang back they reached an Army barracks which stated it knew nothing about the matter. The person then contacted the local...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: Can Mr. McCarthy give the number of properties to which people were allocated since the local authorities got involved?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: How many people have been allocated accommodation since the local authorities became involved?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I want to move on to a different issue, namely, youth justice and the Oberstown children detention campus and expenditure on that. My understanding is that approximately €26 million was allocated to that project. Has it been completed and are the full costings available?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: How many people are accommodated there?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: Yes.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: What is the total number of staff working in the campus?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: There are 265 staff and the centre has accommodation for 46 people.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I fully understand that much of this is not easy. In relation to people who go through the facility, has there ever been an assessment of the people who have left? For example, as regards those who left five years ago, has a full assessment been done of whether the facility was of benefit to them in real terms? We are talking about over 260 staff. This matter was dealt with in the...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: When are the results of that research expected?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: Why wait? If we are spending that kind of money and we have that number of staff employed, why will it take until 2024 to come back with the results?

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I know the Cork Life Centre does not come under the remit of the Department. It provides young people who have dropped out of school with a structured education. The funding provided for it is under €200,000 for 50 children. In the case of Oberstown, €24 million is being spent on 46 children. Do we need to look at a better way of approaching this in a more structured way? I...

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I accept that.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: I am saying that many of the support mechanisms that are out there need funding, in particular the one with which I was involved in Blackpool in Cork. It was set up by a number of people voluntarily and they eventually got State funding. To this day, it provides support to approximately 50 people.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: Is it not the case that young people are dropping out of the educational system and getting into difficulties in particular areas? Do we need to step in at a faster rate rather than waiting for someone else on the ground to do it? One of the problems arising for many young people is that it is too late before anyone steps in.

Public Accounts Committee: 2021 Report of the Comptroller and Auditor General and Appropriation Accounts
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Chapter 13 - Guardian Ad Litem Follow-up Report (27 Oct 2022)

Colm Burke: The problem with the Cork Life Centre is that the centre is under the education and training board, ETB. It is not getting funding and may very well close. We have 50 children. It now technically comes under the Department in the sense that we have vulnerable young people who are going to be out there without any support mechanisms and we are getting less than €200,000 per annum....