Results 561-580 of 2,723 for speaker:Barry Andrews

Written Answers — Proposed Legislation: Proposed Legislation (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: The Office of the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, in conjunction with the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, is at an advanced stage of drafting the Heads for the National Vetting Bureau Bill with a view to submitting Heads of Bill to Government shortly. Consultations have taken place with the Health Service Executive, An Garda Síochána and colleagues in other...

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: Regions from within more than a dozen countries, including Ireland, the United States, the United Kingdom and France were recently "blacklisted" by the Russian Ministry of Education, thus suspending referrals for adoption. The issue as it pertains to Ireland relates to the provision of Post Placement Reports by adoptive parents. When adopting from Russia, adoptive parents agree to complete a...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I have responsibility for implementing the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme, which was introduced in January of this year. Children will qualify for a free pre-school year place when they are aged more than 3 years 2 months and less than 4 years 7 months at 1 September each year. This means that children born between 2 February 2005 and 30 June 2006...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, I have responsibility for a broad range of policies and services which impact directly on children and young people's well being. In this context, I recently launched the research report by One Family on the Need for Child Contact Centres in Ireland. I understand that One Family was supported in carrying out this research with funding from the...

Written Answers — Child Protection: Child Protection (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: The Government recently published the third report of Mr. Geoffrey Shannon, Special Rapporteur on Child Protection. Mr. Shannon was appointed in the aftermath of the 'CC case' (sometimes referred to as the 'A Case') and was required to review and audit national and international legislative developments for the protection of children, and to prepare, annually from 2007 to 2009, a report...

Constitutional Amendment on Children: Motion (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: Yes. I move amendment No. 1: To delete all words after "children;" in the third paragraph and substitute the following: "— acknowledges the commitment in the renewed programme for Government 2009 to proceed, subject to appropriate Oireachtas approval, with proposals to hold a constitutional referendum to consider children's rights, based on the work of the Joint Committee on the...

Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I welcome the publication last week of the ombudsman's report on Children First. The report identifies many of the implementation difficulties highlighted in previous reviews of the Children First guidelines. It acknowledges that planned and substantial steps were taken to implement the guidelines but also that efforts to drive forward implementation were not always sustained and were not...

Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I welcomed the report in the first instance because it is a good report which gives a good summary of the way in which efforts have been made to implement the Children First guidelines uniformly throughout the State. I would not expect the Deputy to refer to the positive progress identified by the ombudsman, particularly in reference to the Office of the Minister for Children and Youth...

Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I am eager to tackle the Deputy's two specific questions on administration. The second one is-----

Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I expressed no such criticism of the Deputy.

Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I absolutely reject the Deputy's unfair claims. The Government committed €15 million to this area in the last budget at a time of retrenchment in almost every other Department and within the Department of Health and Children itself.

Child Care Services (18 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: That funding will be applied to the recruitment of 200 additional social workers. Any fair analysis of this situation will show that I am absolutely committed to the delivery of improved compliance with the Children First guidelines. That is central to the taskforce on the standardisation of business processes. It is central to our commitment in the last budget to the roll-out of...

Written Answers — Children in Care: Children in Care (13 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I am currently giving consideration to the legal position with regard to the provision of aftercare services, having regard to the existing legislative provisions as set out in the Child Care Act 1991. I met recently with Focus Ireland in this regard and had a constructive exchange of views and discussion on these matters. I have received legal advice which confirms that the obligation...

Written Answers — Youth Cafés: Youth Cafés (12 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I propose to take Questions Nos. 144 to 146, inclusive, together. On 12 April last I was pleased to announce details of a dedicated youth café funding scheme of €1.5m from dormant accounts funds. This is the first dedicated youth café funding scheme in Ireland and was launched along with the publication of two relevant associated publications: ""outh Cafe9s in Ireland: A best practice...

Written Answers — Pre-school Services: Pre-school Services (12 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I have responsibility for implementing the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme, which was introduced in January of this year. I understand that the childcare facility referred to by the Deputy is participating in the new ECCE scheme and that to date capitation funding in the region of €95,000 has been allocated by my Office to the facility to enable it...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (12 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I have responsibility for implementing the free Pre-School Year in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) scheme, which was introduced in January of this year. Children qualify for the scheme where they are aged more than 3 years and 2 months and less than 4 years and 7 months at 1 September each year. This means that children born between 2 February 2005 and 30 June 2006 qualified for...

Written Answers — Redundancy Payments: Redundancy Payments (12 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I have been informed by the Irish Youth Justice Service that the Labour Court Recommendation in this regard was referred to the Department of Finance for their approval to implement it. I understand that the Department is currently examining the Recommendation and has sought some clarification from the Labour Court on issues arising from it. A final decision on the matter will be taken in...

Energy (Biofuel Obligation and Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2010 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (12 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I am concluding. I presume there is Deputy Deenihan, if he wishes to speak.

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (11 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: I regret that due to industrial action I am not in a position to provide a substantive response to your Parliamentary Question. If this matter remains of continuing concern to you, however, I would invite you to raise it with me again in due course.

Written Answers — Asylum Applications: Asylum Applications (11 May 2010)

Barry Andrews: My colleague, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, has provided the statement below, of asylum applications from unaccompanied minors from January 2000 to the end of March 2010. Asylum applications from Unaccompanied Minors 2000-2010 (31/3) Year Applications Received 2000 302 2001 600 2002 ...