Results 5,121-5,140 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: It is great that the committee is doing this work because it provides another opportunity to hear those voices. I look forward to receiving the report because I know how committed the Deputy and her colleagues are in this regard. I have also met with a range of representative bodies from the sector regarding the issue of wages and working conditions, including representatives from the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am aware of the low wages in the sector. I am aware that the average wage is only just above the minimum wage and is below the living wage. I have done a lot of work in my political life to encourage us to move towards the living wage and would love to see the early years and education and care sector become an example of that, especially when 18% of staff are now qualified to level 7 or...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question and am very conscious that it has not been possible to publish the second interim report so far. This is for very good reasons and I can assure the House that I have no wish whatsoever to delay it unnecessarily. I want to publish this report as soon as possible and I briefed the Cabinet on the matter again this morning. I expect to be able to clarify the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am aware that the matter touches on the motion the Deputy tabled and I have already indicated in my response to the motion that it contains a number of proposals which I am considering and which we will facilitate and investigate. A certain amount of reflection and work is needed in order to make decisions to put in place the best response so that the whole truth is recovered. ...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am interested in Deputy Ó Laoghaire's comments on this matter. However, I will bring my response back to his original question to me. I will take up some of the other issues later in response to other questions. Again, regarding the question of making decisions to bring forward injunctions, the Deputy argues the Government has a responsibility to do so and that it is something we...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Administration (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Intense preparations are under way to deliver our ambitious goal of turning our child care system from one of the most expensive in the world to the best. What we are putting in place this year will benefit children and families for generations to come. It is vital we get this right. As the Deputy acknowledges, there is much work to do. The Deputy is well aware, as a member of the...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Child Care Services Administration (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her questions. My Department is taking responsibility for the scheme and, as I have indicated, we intend within the next short while to outline our answers to all the questions the Deputy asks. I accept, and I appreciate that she accepts, that significant and complex work must be done in respect of the IT system and that in order to do it we need more time than we had...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question. The child care regulations introduced for newly-registering preschool services on 30 June 2016, and for existing services on 31 December 2016, require all staff working directly with children to have at least a major award at level 5 on the national qualifications framework in early childhood care and education or a qualification deemed by the Minister to...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy indicated, I am aware of the issues she outlined. I have also spoken to and have had a meeting with the Minister for Social Protection on this matter. I have asked my officials to focus on the most acute challenges facing services and the impact of the removal of unqualified community employment workers from ratios is one of those most acute challenges. I am aware of these...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I completely with the Deputy in that regard. She will appreciate that my Department gave a substantial lead-in period to allow for most of the members within the child care and early education sector to prepare for and comply with the regulations. I fully understand it was not possible for that to be the case, particularly with regard to some of the people who are providing in the community...

Ceisteanna - Questions (Resumed) - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: It is important to appreciate that these institutions ceased operating many decades ago. The reality is that many of the buildings and sites which accommodated mother and baby homes and county homes have evolved significantly in the intervening years. These locations are now being used for a wide array of different activities and purposes, ranging from housing estates to private health care...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: After-School Support Services (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Action Plan on School Age Childcare, a cross-Department report, was launched at the meeting of the Early Years Forum on Monday 6 March. The Action Plan was heavily informed by consultations with various groups over 2015 and 2016, and contains information related to school age childcare provision in Ireland and international best practice. The Action Plan sets out the actions that the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 30 and 35 together. The survivors and loved ones of those who were resident in the Mother and Baby Homes must be central to our consideration of this complex and very emotive issue. Like many of the Deputies in this house I have met and engaged with them. Indeed one of the most memorable days of my time as Minister was at the site in Tuam before the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am pleased to confirm that I have allocated an extra €5.5m in current funding to support the provision of youth services in 2017. This will bring the total youth funding by my Department to €57.4m, an increase of 10% over last year's allocation. Following the cuts during the economic crises, I have now restored youth funding to 95% of its 2011 figure, and I hope to be able...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Provision (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that my Department will provide an allocation to Kildare and Wicklow Education and Training Board for the provision of a full time youth officer for County Kildare in 2017. My Department is engaging with the ETB in this regard and I expect that the post will be filled shortly. In the interim, the ETB has a Youth Officer in place who is very active in both...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Affordable Childcare Scheme will provide progressive financial support for childcare costs, with the largest subsidies going to the families with the lowest incomes. Where a family has childcare needs and has a net family income below €47,500, they will be eligible for an income-related subsidy under the scheme. The highest rates of subsidy will apply to families with net incomes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection Services Provision (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I have placed a high priority on addressing the number of children who are without an allocated social worker. I secured additional funding for this purpose in 2017, and Tusla is now in the second year of a 3-year plan to ensure the allocation of a social worker to all children and young people who need one. The number of children with an allocated social worker at the end of 2016 was...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Internet Safety (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Online abuse in its various forms, as described by the Deputy presents serious and complex issues, exacerbated by the rate at which technology continues to develop. In its recent appearance before the Joint Committee on Children and Youth Affairs, the ISPCC outlined and discussed with the Committee a number of concerns about online habits and how young people interact with each other using...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Traveller Community (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: At the outset, I want to confirm my strong support for the recognition of the Traveller Community as an ethnic group and the recent events in Dáil Éireann, led by the Taoiseach, at which it was confirmed. It is important we recognise the significant challenges facing this indigenous Community and the significant disadvantages experienced by Traveller children with poorer outcomes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Abuse Reports (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy will be aware, a major investigation into historical child abuse has already been conducted by the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse. Its remit was to inquire into the abuse of children in institutions in the period 1940 to 1999. Its terms of reference were broad and the institutions covered included schools, industrial schools, reformatory schools, orphanages, hospitals,...