Results 5,181-5,200 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Insurance Costs (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not have conventional insurance cover and operates under a State indemnity, a self insurance model whereby the State bears the financial risks associated with the cost of claims. The State indemnity is operated by the National Treasury Management Agency who acts as the State Claims Agency. All my Department's claims are delegated for management to this agency. This...

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

Katherine Zappone: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), which is a new programme of supports to enable children with a disability to access and fully participate in the free pre-school programme, is administered by Pobal on behalf of this Department. The degree of support provided depends on the needs of the child availing of ECCE, in the context of the pre-school service registered with my Department. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Juvenile Offenders (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The Children Act 2001, as amended, provides the statutory basis for dealing with children who come into contact with the criminal justice system. The key principle of the Children Act 2001 is that detention of a child should only be imposed as a last resort. When children come into contact with the criminal justice system there is an emphasis on the promotion of community based options in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Cafés Expenditure (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: In recent years capital funding has been made available to my Department for the development of youth café facilities. Youth Cafés offer young people a safe, alcohol and drug free space, for recreation, non-formal learning and youth activities and they make an important contribution to facilities for young people at local level. Recent research undertaken by my Department...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Staff (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has advised that for reasons of confidentiality, they cannot provide specific details with regards to suspension of staff.

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

Katherine Zappone: The Affordable Childcare Scheme will provide childcare subsidies for both full-time and part-time childcare, including after-school childcare. While the number of hours of childcare subsidised per week will be capped at a maximum of 40 (or 15 for families in which a parent is neither engaged in work nor in study), it is not intended that there will be any minimum number of hours of childcare...

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

Katherine Zappone: As the matter in question relates to a contractual matter, I have referred the question for direct response by Tusla to the Deputy.

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

Katherine Zappone: I understand the Deputy is referring to the Regulations made in 2016 which require that all staff members working directly with children in pre-school services must hold at least a major award in early childhood care and education at level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework, or a qualification deemed by the Minister to be equivalent. This requirement came into effect for...

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

Katherine Zappone: The Revised Estimate for my Department for 2017 provides a gross funding provision of €1.311 billion. This represents an increase of €173 million, or 16%, over my Department’s 2016 allocation. In this regard, the Deputy might note that Youth Services will receive an additional €5.5m over their 2016 allocation. As a result, youth services have an overall budget...

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

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 623, 624 and 627 together. Children First National Guidance (2011) gives advice for notifying Tusla of situations where abuse is suspected. A range of professionals including teachers, nurses, early years educators, Gardaí and other health professionals, who see children regularly, are in a good position to identify children at risk. Where someone...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Functions (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: The nature of my Department's work is significantly oriented towards policy development and co-ordination of actions across agencies, rather than dealing with individual cases. Accordingly my Department has no formal investigative functions or structures of the type that the Deputy may have in mind. There are of course systems for dealing with issues raised by members of the public under...

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

Katherine Zappone: The Child Care Act, 1991 applies to all children resident in the State. Under the Child Care Act, 1991 and the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, Tusla has a duty to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care or protection. The Agency is obliged to provide care for these children for as long as their welfare requires it. Children First National Guidance (2011)...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Homeless Persons Supports (28 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As part of a whole-Government approach to homelessness, my Department is working closely with Tusla to provide supports for families in emergency accommodation in order to mitigate the challenges faced by parents and children in this situation. As the Deputy will know, Tusla has agreed a joint protocol with the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE). This covers child welfare...

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

Katherine Zappone: I wish to assure the Deputy that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, deals immediately with emergency cases, including for instance, if a child has been abandoned or is in immediate physical danger or at immediate risk of sexual abuse. Social work duty teams keep high priority cases under review by regularly checking to ascertain risk to the child, and where necessary will reprioritise the...

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

Katherine Zappone: The latest figures from Tusla indicate that, at the end of December 2016, there were 6,258 children in care. Of these, 5,817 (93%) were in foster care and 316 (5%) were in residential care. Foster care is the main form of alternative care for children in need of care and protection, and it is the preferred option for children who cannot live with their parent(s)/guardian(s). Of the 5,817...

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. The additional funding is being used for programmes that target disadvantaged young people and to assist national youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (23 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy will be aware an expansion of ECCE, the free pre-school programme, took place following Budget 2016. This expansion was given significant consideration by the Inter-Departmental Group on Future Investment in Childcare which reported in July 2015. Senior officials from the Department of Education and Skills contributed to the discussions on an upper age limit for the scheme,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (23 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I assume that the Deputy is referring to payments to organisations, networks or stations involved in the broadcast of radio and television programmes. In this regard the Deputy might note that my Department, the Adoption Authority of Ireland and Túsla, the Child and Family Agency did not incur any such payments and that the Office of the Ombudsman for Children will respond directly to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: School Discipline (22 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 303 to 309, inclusive, together. The Educational Welfare Service (EWS) of Tusla has confirmed that it has written to the school in question and offered to convene a meeting with the local Education Welfare Service team and the school's pastoral care team given the high levels of suspension and expulsion in the school. The purpose of the meeting would be...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (22 Mar 2017)

Katherine Zappone: I can offer an assurance that any parent who is currently in receipt of a targeted childcare subsidy (either the Community Childcare Subvention or one of the Training and Employment Childcare programmes) and who remains eligible for one of those schemes will not see a reduction in their subsidy rate. Transition arrangements for the Affordable Childcare Scheme will include a "saver" provision...