Results 4,421-4,440 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Sector (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The service to which the Deputy refers has not made an application for capital funding under the early years capital scheme, 2017. As the deadline for this has now passed, it will not be possible to facilitate an application at this stage. Pobal and the local City Childcare Committee (CCC) have been in contact with the service in question and it is my understanding that this service is...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme Data (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Affordable Childcare Scheme was profiled for €42m in the 2017 estimates. On 11thApril I made an announcement that the Affordable Childcare Scheme would not commence this September but that a range of measures would be introduced in September by my Department to make childcare more affordable for thousands of families throughout Ireland. This honours a key commitment in the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The mid-year expenditure report sets out the pre-Budget expenditure ceiling for my Department of €1,285 million for current expenditure and €27 million for capital expenditure. This represents the spending baseline for examination of my Department's budgetary priorities for 2018. This is line with the allocation for my Department in 2017. At present officials in my...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection Services Provision (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy will be aware that the Child Care Act, 1991, as amended, is the central piece of legislation regarding the care and welfare of children. The Act is the basis for providing child welfare and protection service, receiving children into care, developing aftercare plans, and the provision of alternative care, e.g. foster care, residential centres. Section 3 of the Child Care Act...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Legislation (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 provides for the first time a statutory entitlement to identity information for adopted persons. It provides for a structured and regulated access to information and tracing services for those affected by adoption. It sets out the information that can be provided and the circumstances in which it can be provided to adopted persons. A key...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Abuse (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: A historical or retrospective disclosure is where an adult discloses abuse experienced in childhood. I understand that the overwhelming majority of such disclosures are about sexual abuse. Tusla has advised me that at the end of June, there were 1,898 open cases of historical abuse of which 1,326 (70%) were allocated and 572 (28%) were awaiting allocation. Of the 572 awaiting allocation 24...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme Expenditure (11 Sep 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I understand that the Deputy is referring to the 'Independent Review of the Cost of Delivering Quality Childcare' which will be commissioned in the coming weeks. Once commissioned there will be a 10-month deadline to deliver findings. Officials in my Department have been scoping the research that will be involved and preparing terms of reference for the study. In this regard a Request for...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Refuges Provision (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has statutory responsibility for the provision of care and protection to victims of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence. In discharging its statutory responsibility, Tusla supports emergency refuges in providing services for women and children fleeing domestic violence. Tusla also provides a range of community-based supports to victims. In 2017,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education Staff (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: It is important that we acknowledge the role played by staff working the childcare sector. Childcare workers play a critical role in delivering high quality childcare services and they deserve to be recognised, valued and respected for this. I do, however, acknowledge that pay and conditions are major issues facing the sector and can lead to difficulties in recruiting and retaining staff....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: School Completion Programme (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am retaining the grant in its current form for the present, pending a decision on alternative approaches. In 1994 the Department of Social Welfare opened a grant scheme to provide counselling supports to children who had experienced bereavement or loss. This grant scheme then passed to the Family Support Agency (FSA) when it was established in 2003 and subsequently to Tusla on...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Affordable Childcare Scheme (ACS) has been designed to facilitate the inclusion of childminders. However, it is essential that public subsidies are only provided to childcare providers where there is a sufficient level of assurance of the quality of provision. For this reason, the ACS will be delivered through Tusla-registered childcare providers, both centre-based providers and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The service to which the Deputy refers has not made an application for capital funding under the early years capital scheme, 2017. As the deadline for this has now passed, It will not be possible to facilitate an application at this stage. I understand that the service in question is faced with the prospect of closure - I have asked officials to work with the local Childcare Committee and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Abuse (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy will be aware, the primary legislation regulating child care policy is the Child Care Act 1991. Under the 1991 Act, as amended by the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, Tusla - the Child and Family Agency has a statutory duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection. The Child Care Act 1991 is the key piece of legislation whereby the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Contracts Data (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: All cleaning contractors for my Department are being paid, equal to or above, the legal Employment Regulation Order (ERO) hourly rate. There are no security contracts as this is arranged by the Office of Public Works. The Adoption Authority of Ireland and Oberstown Children Detention Campus have both confirmed that contracts for security and cleaning where applicable also comply with...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Government is committed to responding to the discovery of infant remains by the Commission of Investigation on the site of the former mother and baby home in Tuam as effectively and as sensitively as possible. I have appointed a multi disciplinary team of experts to provide technical advice's to Government in this highly specialised area. I want to ensure that the approach adopted is...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme Implementation (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: To avoid delaying the benefit of higher childcare subsidies for low-income families, I have made a number of changes to existing childcare schemes that will bring substantial benefits to tens of thousands of children and their families from this September. These changes will include a new universal subsidy of up to €1,040 per annum, for children aged from 6 months up to 36 months old...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Officials of my Department order taxis when necessary in the course of their work and when public transport cannot be utilised. The amount invoiced and spent by my Department for taxis in 2015 was €8,393,2016 was €12,700 and January 2017 to present is €9,811. No limousines were hired or paid for by my Department over this timeframe.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Capitation Grants (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The actual cost of this proposal would be subject to a number of factors including actual levels of participation and the number of children subvented at the 'higher capitation' rate. Extrapolating from 2016/17 figures, the estimated cost of introducing this measure in September 2018, would be €20 million with increases of €3 million annually for every additional 1% of children...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1438 and 1439 together. My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work involving approximately 1,400 youth work staff working in youth services and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children and Family Services Provision (26 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Department notes that you have requested clarification regarding a specific proposal to establish a childcare and family support service in the Longford area. The Department can confirm that it has received the proposal you refer to, and has conducted a review of its contents. The Department acknowledges the ambition and scope of the proposed project, which would involve the...