Results 6,221-6,240 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla has been provided with additional funding of €38m in Budget 2016, including additional funding of over €6 million to reduce the number of cases awaiting allocation of a social worker. As part of its Business Plan for this year, Tusla has committed to a number of key targets to achieve by the end of 2016 to reduce the number of cases waiting to be allocated a social...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The shared vision of the Government in relation to child welfare and protection is that children are safe and protected wherever they are. While my Department has a key role in this, as does Tusla, responsibility for children is shared by all sectors of society, including parents, Government departments, statutory and non statutory agencies and service providers. There have been recent key...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care Policy (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Children coming into care have been subject to abuse, including neglect, or are in need of care due to welfare reasons. It is a priority of Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that children in care are safe and have opportunities to thrive. Tusla's arrangements for the monitoring of the safety of children in care is based on the following: - Comprehensive assessment of foster carers; -...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Juvenile Offenders (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Oberstown Children Detention Campus, located at Oberstown, Lusk, Co. Dublin, currently provides a total of 54 detention places for young people ordered to be remanded or committed by the courts. This comprises 6 places for girls up to the age of 18 and 48 places for boys up to the age of 18 who are remanded in custody and up to the age of 17 for those serving a sentence of detention....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Poverty (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: In recognition of the higher risks and life-long consequences of child poverty, the Government set a child-specific poverty target in Better Outcomes, Better Future: the National Policy Framework for Children and Young Peopleto reduce consistent child poverty by at least two-thirds by 2020. This figure currently represents 100,000 children. In order to understand and improve the lives of our...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Bullying of Children (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: "Psychological intimidation" is a term that would need to be clearly defined for the purpose of understanding its effect on young people. Under Growing Up in Ireland, the National Longitudinal Study of children's lives, my Department collects information about the extent of bullying reported by children and their parents. Based on the responses of mothers for the 9-year-old cohort, 24%...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I am committed to the principle of fairness, and would very much wish to allocate additional resources next year to the youth sector as the economy recovers. Any additional amount available will depend on the Budgetary process in 2017. I will be closely involved in the decisions to be taken by Government in this regard. My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has a statutory duty under the Child Care Act 1991 to promote the welfare of children who are not receiving adequate care and protection and, if necessary, to receive a child into the care of the State. I am satisfied that Tusla takes its responsibility very seriously regarding the welfare of children in care and that there is a robust framework of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I wish to assure the Deputy that Tusla 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 case. The Child and Family...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Juvenile Offenders (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: It is important to note that a range of rehabilitative supports is offered to every child entering the children detention school as part of an overall programme, focused on their individual needs. The extent to which each child avails of these services depends on the individual profile in each case. On admission, every child is assigned a specific member of staff who acts as the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Living Wage (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: A suggested living wage of €11.50 per hour would equate to an annual salary of €22,203. This is based on a standard civil service net working week of 37 hours. The annual additional cost of introducing the suggested living wage for those civil servants in my Department currently under this threshold would be in the region of €6,500 per annum. It should be noted that...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Living Wage (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: It is important that Ireland’s statutory National Minimum Wage and the Living Wage concept are not conflated. The Living Wage is a voluntary societal initiative centred on the social, business and economic case to ensure that, wherever it can be afforded, employers will pay a rate of pay that provides an income that is sufficient to meet an individual’s basic needs, such as...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: It is estimated that the cost of extending the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme to the number of weeks specified by the Deputy, assuming 60% of children will attend higher rate services and 40% of children will attend standard rate services, would be as follows: No of Weeks Estimated Cost 40 Weeks €17,520,704 42 weeks €35,041,408 The expansion of the ECCE...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Funding of €1.5m was allocated for Learner Fund 4 in Budget 2016 to support up to 1,000 early years practitioners to undertake and complete the Level 6 qualification, which is a requirement for pre-school leaders delivering the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme. As of July 20th, funding of €548,760.00 has been approved, and €181,090.80 has been...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Family Resource Centres have an important role in offering early intervention and support to families in difficulty. The level of funding provided in 2016 demonstrates the Government's support for child and family services around the country. There are currently 108 communities supported through the Family Resource Centre Programme funded by Tusla. In 2016, Tusla is providing...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Since early 2015, my Department has supported intensive engagement with Pobal and Longford County Childcare Committee to maintain childcare provision in the service in question. Unfortunately, following an EGM of the board in March 2016, my Department was informed of the intention to proceed with an orderly wind-down of the service. My Department recognises that the service in question...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Freedom of Information Data (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department has received 43 Freedom of Information requests to date in 2016. Of those requests, 15 were fully refused and 4 partially refused.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Ministerial Expenditure (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Details of the mileage and other travel expenses claimed by me in the performance of my official duties since 6thMay 2016 to date are as follows: - the sum of €446.74 was obtained in mileage costs towards the use of my private motor vehicle. The total distance claimable was 756 km; - the sum of €424.37 was claimed in respect of the provision of Business Class 11 insurance cover...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Ministerial Advisers Data (21 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Both of my Special Adviser appointments have been made in accordance with Instructions for Ministerial Appointments as published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in June 2016. Name Position Held Current Salary Patricia Ryan Special Adviser €79,401 Jerry O'Connor Special Adviser (Media) €79,401