Results 601-620 of 20,049 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: As mentioned by the Deputy, the Programme for Government commits to reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child in the lifetime of this Government. My Department will build on significant progress in affordability that has already been made through a number of existing Schemes. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme, which provides two years of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Reports (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I can further confirm to the Deputy that my Department has not carried out, sought or received reports or analysis on impacts that the accommodation recognition payment may be having on the private rental sector. However, before considering extending the scheme, in addition to the necessary statutory consultations, my Department consulted its key pledge stakeholders; the Irish Red Cross,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1770, 1773, 1775, 1777 and 1963 together. The State is currently accommodating over 33,000 people in over 320 IPAS centres around the country, about 9,000 of whom are children with their families. The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) releases weekly statistics in relation to international protection (IP) applicants accommodated by...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1771, 1772, 1774 and 1776 together. The safety and wellbeing of all residents and staff in our accommodation centres is our priority and we have guidelines in place for IPAS staff and Department officials in relation to responding quickly to any incidents, taking action to ensure people are safe. The health needs of international protection (IP) applicants...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The level of pay for staff in the sector does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy. As the State is not the employer of staff in the sector, neither I nor my Department can set their pay or determine working conditions. The Joint Labour Committee is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Core Funding was introduced in September 2022. The Scheme is designed to improve affordability for parents through the introduction of fee management and contractual requirements on providers to offer the National Childcare Scheme and/or the ECCE programme. The Scheme aims to improve quality through better pay and conditions for the workforce by supporting agreement on Employment...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The role of International Protection Accommodation Services (IPAS) is to provide accommodation to people who are applying for international protection. Providing reception conditions – accommodation and other basic supports – to people seeking international protection is part of Irish and EU law and is also part of our humanitarian duty to provide shelter to people fleeing...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: As mentioned by the Deputy, the Programme for Government commits to reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child. A number of existing Schemes will need to play a role to achieve these aims. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme, which provides two years of pre-school without charge, enjoys participation rates of 96% each year. The National...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Asylum Seekers (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I regret that statistics in respect of the total number of hotel rooms currently contracted to International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) are not routinely collated by the Department. IPAS is currently providing accommodation to approximately 33,000 international protection (IP) applicants, in over 320 centres nationwide. IPAS does not routinely collate detailed information on...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people at over 320 sites nationwide. Since 2024, IPAS has not published details of the specific locations or the capacity or occupancy of our accommodation centres. This is due to both safety and security concerns, and to protect the privacy of international protection...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Legislative Reviews (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: In the Programme for Government 2025, Securing Ireland's Future, the Government has made a number of commitments with a view to strengthening the Child and Family Agency, Tusla, and protecting children in State care, including updating the Child Care Act, 1991. Following a review of the Child Care Act 1991, the Government in April 2023 approved the General Scheme and priority drafting of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you for your question, Deputy. A response will be provided directly to you in the coming days.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Employment Support Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I recognise the enormous impact that pregnancy loss has on expectant parents, and I wish to extend my sympathies to all parents who have suffered such a loss. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth commissioned a qualitative research study to examine the workplace experiences of parents coping with pregnancy loss. The study, ‘PLACES | Pregnancy Loss...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) was introduced to recognise the generosity of people who have opened their homes to provide accommodation to Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs). I recently made an order to extend the scheme for a further year to March 2026 to mirror the extension of the Temporary Protection Directive. This extension provides certainty to Ukrainian...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme provides payments and health benefits to people who spent time in any of the Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions that were identified by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation as having a main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. As the State is not the employer of staff in the sector, neither I nor my Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions. There is however a formal mechanism established, in the independent Early Years Services Joint Labour Committee, where employer and employee...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Refugee Resettlement Programme (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine who are Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BoTP) and number of people applying for international protection (IP) by local electoral area is set out in the table below. This data refers to accommodation supported or provided by this Department. While it is useful to review information published by the State on how many people are in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Emergency Accommodation (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Ireland currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people applying for international protection, over 9,000 of whom are children with their families. The State has a legal obligation to assess the claims of those who seek international protection, and in that time, to provide accommodation and supports in line with the Recast Reception Conditions Directive (transposed under SI...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Legislative Measures (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2024 prohibit discrimination in the workplace across nine protected grounds. Disability is one of the protected grounds under the Acts. Discrimination on the ‘disability ground’ occurs where there is less favourable treatment of one person compared to another person because one has a disability and the other has not, or the other has a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: School Facilities (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1809 and 1810 together. Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government. Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2023/24 shows that the estimated number of enrolments increased by 10% from the 2022/23 programme year. Core...