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

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Yes.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I disagree.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: We do not yet know or fully understand the impact of the funding model that has just been put in place under the national childcare scheme. There is a universal entitlement as well as a legal financial entitlement to a subsidy for childcare costs that is means-tested and based on the age of the child and how long the child will be in childcare. That is why I cannot believe that the people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will try to meet them before Christmas.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency Services (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The numbers of unallocated cases, or children who do not have an allocated social worker remains of great concern to me. Tusla has identified significant numbers of unallocated cases in five of its 17 areas. In September 2019, these five areas accounted for 56% of all unallocated cases. I assure the Deputy that where a child has not been allocated a social worker, he or she is supported...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency Services (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: That question goes to the heart of a lot of the challenges being experienced by Tusla. I just indicated to the Deputy that a recruitment campaign is being run specifically for the five areas where there is the greatest problem of unallocated cases because of a lack of social workers. Tusla is also conducting a number of other campaigns to recruit the number of social workers required. It...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency Services (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The shortage of social workers in Tusla is not a resource issue; instead it is an issue of recruitment difficulties as well as a shortage of social work graduates at university level. The next question deals with what we have been doing to change the latter. There have also been difficulties with retention which Tusla is attempting to address. It has a new workforce development strategy...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child and Family Agency Staff (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has taken a proactive approach to the recruitment of social workers in a difficult and challenging recruitment environment. There is a shortage of social workers not only in Ireland but also in England, the US, Canada and Australia, as has been noted by HIQA. We made modest progress during 2019. Tusla has had a net increase of 65 social workers since the start of the year, and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will do my best in respect of the 230 in Cork who have not begun the process. I will put a request in for a dedicated phone line, to see if that is possible, especially for these last few days. What I have been trying to outline in the answer to this question and at a couple of other points is that they were communicated with from the time that they registered initially about the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is part of the law. We cannot extend that deadline.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: This Government has delivered an unprecedented package of measures to improve access to high quality and affordable childcare. Investment in the sector has increased by 138% over the past five budgets. This investment has helped to bring about a doubling of capacity and a doubling of the number of children receiving State subsidies. However, I recognise that there are continuing capacity...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am not questioning the couple Deputy Boyd Barrett mentioned who get only €20 more a week but that €20 a week is a universal subsidy for any child under three years. If they are on an industrial wage they are entitled to further additional supports. Have they applied for the national childcare scheme which determines how much of a subsidy they will receive? They should be...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services Provision (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: He talked about the need to reduce the numbers because they needed more space, etc. I said that was because of the regulations. We have to follow the regulations. I refer to the Deputies' questions about plans for new housing developments, whether there are childcare plans and the fact there are no childcare facilities. That is a difficulty. Difficulties arise when new housing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 52 and 59 together. The operation and maintenance of the register of early years services is a matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, which is the independent statutory regulator. Since this is a regulatory issue, my Department does not have a direct role in the processing of registration applications or maintenance of the register. Tusla was...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: There is an update.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Early Childhood Care and Education (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: To be absolutely clear, as the Deputies probably understand, everyone who wants funding from the Department of Children and Youth Affairs has to re-register by 12 December. They have to submit an application by 12 December. There is a certain set of documentation that is required for 12 December. Most of that documentation should be pretty much on hand, such as Garda vetting for the...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Domestic Violence Services Funding (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I will make two points on the specific issue of counselling and I thank the Deputy for raising it. She has put it on the record and Tusla will be aware of that. I hope and anticipate that counselling forms part of its negotiations, especially for 2020, to see whether there is any more scope for support for that particular aspect. My information, however, is that it has not raised the issue...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I warmly welcome the high level of participation by childminders in the recent public consultation on the draft childminding action plan. I strongly believe that childminding has an important and distinctive role to play in the future of early learning and care and school-age childcare in this country and this is why I appointed an expert group, chaired by Childminding Ireland, in 2016 to...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I agree with everything that the Deputy outlined in terms of the concerns, which is why we put in place an extensive consultation led by Childminding Ireland in the first place to recommend what the draft plan ought to include, the substantial majority of which became part of the draft childminding action plan that is still to be put out for further consultation. The Deputy's points are well...

Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (10 Dec 2019)

Katherine Zappone: In response to Deputy Rabbitte's first question, it will not be academia that is writing it. In fairness, it was Childminding Ireland that led that first piece of consultation out of which the draft action plan was put in place ultimately. I absolutely agree with the Deputy. It will not happen under my leadership. On the Deputy's second question, I do not have specific names in front...