Results 4,481-4,500 of 11,893 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, tries to ensure the best outcome for children, families, individuals and communities by listening to feedback and complaints through its Tell Us portal, which is available to all. In 2021, there were 598 complaints, in 2022, there were 749 and in 2023 to date, there have been 201 complaints. To note, in 2021, Tusla received 73,000 referrals and in 2022,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Absolutely. In the first instance, with Tusla appearing before the Joint Committee on Children, Disability, Equality and Integration, of which Deputy Funchion is Chair, soon-----

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: -----there will perhaps be an opportunity to explore this matter directly with its representatives in more detail. I am certainly happy. As the Deputy knows, I have a quarterly meeting with Tusla. Perhaps I could raise that specific issue with HIQA at the next quarterly meeting and continue that discussion. It is positive to see that some of these complaints are being resolved at a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is very important that people feel free to make those complaints. As the Deputy knows, whenever there is an issue in terms of the engagement of Tusla with the relationship between a parent and child, it does create an element of stress. The fact that there are a growing number of complaints means that people feel that even if they have an issue, they need not worry about retaliation or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy knows, the ECCE programme provides free universal preschool care to children in the eligible age range. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks each year. The programme year runs from the end of August to the following June in line with the primary school year. Data provided by Pobal, which administrates the ECCE programme on behalf...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I would like to have more time because there is a good bit in there. In last year's budget, we put in place €250 million in core funding. The purpose of this new money is to support services to allow them to pay their staff better and deal with a wider range of financial issues they encounter. All services, including ECCE-only services, receive that money. I know that small...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The process is close to over but if Deputy Sherlock wants to give me information for my own decision-making processes that is fine. I think it is too late to join the process that was established. It started in January and we will get the interim report soon. If the Deputy wants to give me information I will be happy to take it from him because it is relevant to my own decision-making process.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: That has never been said before.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: As Deputy McAuliffe knows, CHO9 also covers my area. The children's disability network teams in CHO9 were fully established in late September 2021, with 12 CDNTs in place across the CHO. There are currently 283 posts assigned across the CDNTs in CHO9. This is the whole-time equivalent allocation for the area. Figures up to last month indicate approximately 194 posts were filled across the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank Deputy McAuliffe. He is absolutely right that it is deeply concerning. It is deeply concerning for me as a constituency Deputy to know these figures. On Monday we had a good discussion at the Cabinet committee on health about the issue and longer-term solutions for greater recruitment of staff, particularly opening up more places in third level institutions on courses to do with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputies. I understand the very real focus this issue has for so many Deputies. The numbers that Deputy Ó Cathasaigh requested for his CHO are deeply concerning. Of 192 positions that are provided 111 are filled at present with 81 unfilled. This is a 42% vacancy rate. It is even higher than what we discussed earlier and it is deeply disturbing. It is having a very real...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ukraine War (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: There have been delays. This has caused problems for hoteliers and other people who are providing serviced accommodation and doing so much to support the Government’s effort. That is why we have put a focus on this in terms of getting external resources. I have also been clear within the Department. We have had to move people and to stop other work that we would like to be doing....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ukraine War (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: I recognise the important role the hotel and wider serviced accommodation sector provides in meeting needs we never anticipated in the context of a war. It is an issue that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, has raised with me regularly. We are looking at bringing forth other elements of accommodation. It is 700 modular homes, not...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy and I have spoken about this issue for as long as I have been in this role and I think both of us are of the belief that the level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners should reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy. The State is not the employer and does not set the pay and conditions for employees in...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: We are undertaking a review, announced in December last year, of small sessional ECCE-only services. An issue had been raised that they felt they had not been fully supported by core funding. The data our Department was looking at said otherwise but there was a disagreement. We brought in an independent organisation. I was disappointed by the take-up and the number of services who went...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: The UNCRPD requires states to actively involve people with disabilities and their representative organisations in the development and monitoring of law and policy. This includes organisations of people with disabilities, also known as disabled persons' organisations. These are organisations that are led by and have a majority membership of people with disabilities. While my Department...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: That dialogue is especially important. In my constituency we have an excellent organisation that is both a service provider and DPO, the Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living. There is a network around the country. I have always found it to be a great sounding board in terms of being able to meet with it, talk to people with disabilities, and have engagement on legislation or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is certainly a goal of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and mine that we would see ratification of the optional protocol. Ireland has a legal position that it does not sign up to conventions where it feels its domestic law is not ready to comply with them yet. One of the big blockages to ratifying the optional protocol is that wardship was still in place. As Deputy Kenny knows,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Ukraine War (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: Deputy Dillon has engaged with me directly in respect of a number of hotels in his constituency. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine one year ago, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-government response to the Ukraine crisis. The unprecedented demand for accommodation and, by association, the level of transactions involved is significant. With more than 750...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Disability Services (30 Mar 2023)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is a goal of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and mine to increase the number of PA hours available across the country. PA hours are designed to allow a person with a physical or intellectual disability to live as full a life as possible. Based on how the Deputy described the situation his constituent is facing, her ability to live what has been a very fulfilling life so far with...