Results 6,121-6,140 of 6,267 for speaker:Jennifer Carroll MacNeill

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Ms Griffin highlighted provision in south County Dublin. What are the reasons for what is coming up again and again, which is a significant difficulty in the area? Can Ms Griffin outline why we are so short of places in south County Dublin?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: South County Dublin is a built-up area and heavily concentrated in population terms. There are proportionally as many children there who need additional support as there are anywhere else. As a result, I urge Ms Griffin and the Department to do everything they can in this regard. We still have difficulty with the Red Door school and so on, but I will leave that for the moment and go back...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: From the perspective of teachers and SNAs, however, the Department cannot force them to participate.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The Department therefore relies on their availability and interest. Many of them have been both available and interested very often, and it is great to see the engagement so far. This year is different, however, with everybody experiencing their own knock-on effects of Covid, whether illness in the family, childcare arrangements or whatever. To confirm, this is a voluntary scheme. The...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: This year there are 200.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: As for the supports that were provided, we listened to Inclusion Ireland earlier and it seems parents had very different experiences of the level of support provided to their children - from provision in some schools being excellent to provision in others being minimal. Can Mr. Tattan talk about the overall background to this and the level of engagement with the Department and the different...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Okay. If this were to happen in November, for example, we could expect that schools will be ready. It is not just an online provision because one can pick up the phone or send documents. Parents might expect a more consistent response from schools in the future. I appreciate this happened suddenly and quickly and without preparation but we will never be in that situation again, so we...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I have a question regarding one of the new categories of eligibility, namely, children transitioning into a special class in a primary school from an early-years setting. I see what the Department is trying to do there. I raised it with Inclusion Ireland. I wish to raise the case of children who have been in supported early-years settings and are now transitioning into mainstream primary...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I am sorry to interrupt, but if one accepts the point that the area I represent is already under-resourced in terms of the provision of special classes, the fact the child is not going into a designated special class may be because the class is not available, rather than a recognition of the child's needs. Does Mr. Tattan see my point? Going into a mainstream school is difficult anyway, but...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The waiting list system was changed a couple of years ago, and with good reason. I wish to focus on young children whose parents assess that there is an intellectual disability but cannot get a formal assessment until the child is five for cognitive processing reasons. How do we support those parents who feel their children will need to be in a special school, but they cannot get their name...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Special Educational Needs: Impact of Covid-19 (Resumed) (25 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I thank the witnesses for coming in and thank the members of their organisations for the extraordinary work they have done. Ms Ní Sheaghdha's description of the role of women in work and women's participation in the workforce is about as eloquent as I have heard in my time in this Chamber. It is succinct and perfect, and I want to thank her for putting it on the record. I completely...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Yes.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: About 200 per week are affected. It impacts different people in different ways. Depending on those who work a week on-week off system or roster arrangements, different people are affected.

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: Ms Ní Sheaghdha said the HSE does not have that data. Is the INMO now going to begin to collate it so that it has data on its membership? This information is crucial and the HSE should have it, although I can see the data protection issues inherent in that. Does the INMO have that information?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I understand the logic. Nobody has this information and it is important that it is obtained in a data protection appropriate way. I want to understand the application of the circular. Ms Ní Sheaghdha referred to circular 33/2020, which I have read. It is about trying to deliver as much flexibility as possible. The particular problem concerned lone parents and co-parents who are both...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: When Mr. Bell says he does not think it was addressed, does he mean it was not adequately addressed or simply that it was not applied?

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: The special annual leave credit that Mr. Bell describes is an issue if we look back on this and ask who was in what type of situation and what arrangements they had to make. It is a very different thing looking after a two year old, an eight year old or a 13 year old in terms of the presence and commitment that is needed. Without the data on how many were parents, the different stages of...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: I understand and agree. What this is has shown is the read-across for other people working in environments where childcare has an impact. If this conversation does nothing else, we can finally put to bed the idea that childcare is a woman's issue or a man's issue. It is a societal issue and if we want to have children and to work, and to have a productive and caring society, we need to...

Special Committee on Covid-19 Response: Childcare: Impact of Covid-19 (23 Jun 2020)

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill: She had to take paid or unpaid leave.