Results 6,301-6,320 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Regulation (6 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: In 2002, the Health Service Executive (HSE) agreed to fund a Childminding Advisory Officer post in each county, who would work with the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) funded under the Childcare Programme, implemented by the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. The role included notifying childminders of training opportunities, providing networking opportunities...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services (6 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department will make direct contact with the service provider in question to inform them of the process involved in order to qualify for the higher capitation payment, and assist them with the process. For a childcare service to be approved for the higher capitation rate in respect of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme in 2015-2016 they were required to satisfy...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (6 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Capital funding of €4 million is being made available through the Early Years Capital Programme in 2016 for early years pre-school services, both private and not-for-profit/community, that are intending to expand their service to provide for more capacity in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. The maximum grant available under this programme is €10,000. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Appointments to State Boards (6 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I am responsible for the appointment of members to the boards of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, the Child and Family Agency (Tusla), Gaisce and the Board of Management for the Children Detention Schools. Since I assumed office in May this year I have made 13 appointments to the new Board of Management for the Children Detention Schools with effect from 1st June 2016. The Board consists...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Public Sector Staff Data (6 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not record information on the numbers of persons of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds employed by it or in the agencies under its aegis. My Department currently uses the services of the Public Appointments Service (PAS) for the recruitment of its staff and I am aware that PAS is committed to ensuring that the participation of members of ethnic minority groups,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foireann Roinne (6 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department has recruited 30 civil servants in the last year (excluding temporary clerical officers on short term contracts). None of these posts required a specific competence in the Irish language. My Department is currently filling two positions for which competency in the Irish language is required. Both positions are awaiting allocation of resources via the Public Appointments...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Special Educational Needs Service Provision (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Policy on SNAs is the responsibility of my colleague, Richard Bruton, T.D., Minister for Education and Skills. I note that the SNA model operates in primary and secondary schools. For the pre-school sector, I recently unveiled details of a new model of supports, funded by my Department, which will support children with a disability to access the free pre-school programme. The new Access...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 682 to 684, inclusive, together. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has advised me that data in relation to retrospective abuse cases is not routinely collected at present. My Department has requested that Tusla provide figures, broken down by area, for cases awaiting the allocation of a social worker that involve adult disclosures of retrospective abuse...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection Services Provision (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has advised that it does not provide funding for this Sexual Assault Treatment Unit in Galway. The Unit is funded by the Health Service Executive under its Acute Hospitals Programme. Tusla has further advised that although the Unit was closed for a period of time, it has re opened. It is now open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Tusla has a good...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Information and Communications Technology (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I acknowledge the need for investment in ICT infrastructure to support both social workers and other staff in their work. The increased capital provision for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency in 2016 included provision for the continued rollout of the National Child Care Information System (NCCIS). NCCIS will operate as the central national database supporting the provision of child...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Expenditure (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Under the Child Care Act, 1991, as amended, the Child and Family Agency has responsibility for payment of any costs incurred by a person who has been appointed by a court to act as a guardian ad litem in proceedings under the Act. The Child and Family Agency has advised that, pursuant to this responsibility, the total amount paid in 2015 to guardians ad litemwas €8,976,386.18. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As part of the 'Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest', the funding of County Childcare Committees' (CCCs) nationally was cut in Budget 2011 by 12.5%. My Department communicated the rationale for the cut in funding to Westmeath CCC at this time. As a consequence, the allocation of funding to Westmeath CCC was reduced from €316,829 (2010 allocation) to €277,226,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Services Provision (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy may be aware, Barnardos provides professional supports to children adopted from abroad and their families who are living in the Dublin, Kildare and Wicklow area on a range of post adoption issues. In other areas, Tusla Adoption services provide information on the availability of local services, access to the social work duty system and facilitate peer support groups for parents...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: The Family Resource Centre (FRC) referred to by the Deputy has been in receipt of funding under the Family Resource Centre Programme which is administered by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. The Centre was in receipt of funding from November 2005 to March 2016. In December 2014, Tusla met members of the Centre's Voluntary Board of Management regarding the provision of funding to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Community Childcare Subvention Programme (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: Budget 2016 provided €16m to create an additional 3,200 (full-time equivalent) Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) childcare places, or approximately 8,000 places based on average uptake. Traditionally, CCS has only been available through community (not for profit) childcare services of which there are 900 across the country. Eligible families who did not live in an area with a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Records (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department does not have a dedicated Archive Unit. The Support Services Unit in my Department has overall responsibility for file management as part of its workload, while each Unit in my Department has responsibility for the day to day management of its local files.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Funding (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: As part of the 'Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest', the funding of County Childcare Committees' (CCCs) nationally was cut in Budget 2011 by 12.5%. My Department communicated the rationale for the cut in funding to Westmeath CCC at this time. As a consequence, the allocation of funding to Westmeath CCC was reduced from €316,829 (2010 allocation) to €277,226,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Staff Data (5 Jul 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 694 and 695 together. My Department was established in 2011 and as such, records only exist from that time onwards. The number of staff employed in my Department (whole time equivalents) at end 2011, at end of each subsequent year and at mid 2016 are as follows: End of year Whole time equivalents Comment End 2011 113.09 End 2012 131.66 The increase was...

Protection of Life in Pregnancy (Amendment) (Fatal Foetal Abnormalities) (No. 2) Bill 2013: Second Stage (30 Jun 2016)

Katherine Zappone: I thank Deputy Kate O'Connell for that extraordinary contribution and for telling her story as others have told theirs. It is helpful. It is incumbent on us to listen to these stories and to make our decisions in light of hearing them. I also express my appreciation to Deputy Wallace for bringing forward the Bill and to his Independent colleagues, in particular Deputy Clare Daly, who have...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Jun 2016)

Katherine Zappone: My Department has been in contact with Dublin City Childcare Committee and it is my understanding that the service in question is undergoing expansion for the provision of the second year of the ECCE programme. I understand that the Board of Management conducted a strategic review recently and following this a decision was made that this service would not be in a position to provide services...