Results 4,521-4,540 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Child Care Scheme: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I agree with the Deputy. I am not saying now because I do not know for sure. We are, however, being as clear as we can be about what is involved. When we know for sure I will tell the committee. The Deputy is right we have to be honest and upfront. The measures we are putting in place for this September, which we are communicating to providers and which we will continue to support,...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Child Care Scheme: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank Deputy Ó Laoghaire for the positive comments he made at the beginning of his contribution, and I agree with him. In terms of capacity, the Deputy raised concerns about whether we will have enough providers and sufficient spaces for the children, and the date of 21 August for registering children for places. Of the 41% of child care services that have completed the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Child Care Scheme: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I understand that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Child Care Scheme: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: On the budget, we have to see through the development of ICT, I will say "Yes". I presume that is right. If more detail is required, my officials can provide it. It is costly but that is built in. We sought legal advice on the permissibility of the budget cap as proposed in the heads of the Bill. We received advice that a budget cap which involved closing the scheme to applicants for a...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Child Care Scheme: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: That is in the Bill itself, which we are working on. I was asked about the significant investment set out in my opening remarks to support families to lift their children out of poverty. That relates specifically to the targeted measures, although in terms of the thresholds for those measures, it depends ultimately on how one defines a middle income. I know there are variations in how we...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Child Care Scheme: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: On her first question, Deputy Funchion will be aware of my concern about the issue of pay and conditions for child care providers. The point she raises about the deadline of 21 August is a good one. What about people who are on the dole and need to come back? Perhaps my officials can answer that more specifically. In general, I note that my awareness of the issue is one of the reasons I...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I welcome the opportunity to address the committee on foster care services. I pay close attention to the committee's work, which is relevant to the work of my Department. The committee has recently heard from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA, , Empowering Young People in Care, EPIC, and the Irish Foster Care Association, IFCA on the...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I will take the first question and ask my officials to respond to the second one. If I understand correctly, your first question was whether we have the budget to put in place the reform Tusla has identified and the numbers of social workers and other workers within Tusla that are required to ensure that we are able to implement the ambition of that reform programme. The answer is "Yes"....

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: By way of answering this question, and some other members may have a similar question, I would remind the committee that I had the opportunity to choose the special rapporteur in my term, and I made the decision to reappoint Dr. Shannon. It had a significant amount to do with his expertise, his international reputation, his commitment and his passion, but also the sterling way in which he...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am not saying that.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am not saying that. The piece of work I presume the Deputy is referring to is the audit on section 12-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: -----that was commissioned by An Garda Síochána. It was a piece of work to audit section 12. That piece of work has been finished.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Correct.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: That is what I am doing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: That is what will be done in terms of the process I have just outlined. That work will be completed. Absolutely, we need an audit of section 13 of the Act. That is part of the implementation plan my Department, in consultation with Dr. Shannon, agreed and that we are implementing.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Section 12-----

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I will pick up on some of the points and my officials will come in with some of the other points. The first point related to HIQA inspections and difficulties in terms of escalating cases.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I signed a commencement order in recent weeks. The order provides that Tusla has an obligation to provide an aftercare plan for all children leaving care. That takes effect from 1 September. Another question related to the out-of-hours service, the social workers in place and whether they have full access to the social work file.

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: There was a question about the appropriateness of private agencies being contracted for emergency care. I understand this is the case. I have reviewed what Dr. Shannon has raised. We are reviewing the legal and policy perspective in that regard. That is under review. The final question was on the audit for section 13. I believe I have answered those questions already except the last...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Services: Discussion (12 Jul 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The first question was about alcohol and how significant it was in Dr. Shannon's report. I am attentive to that and I agree. As committee members may be aware, we will be bringing forward the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill in the fall in light of the most recent discussions in terms of our strategy for reducing harm caused by drugs and alcohol. In some of the questions that I raised to the...