Results 6,461-6,480 of 11,997 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This issue was discussed at some length in the Dáil. There are two different perspectives on it. While I understand, as a result of that discussion, the rationale for the amendment, the provisions the amendment seeks to delete are important, in my view, from the perspective of legal clarity. The 2015 Act was reviewed in detail in the process of preparing the amendment Bill. Legal...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: My response is similar to the points I made in response to Senator Warfield. When the 2015 Act was being reviewed there was a real concern, particularly on the part of the HSE, about who would have the power to make the final healthcare decisions in the event of a conflict arising. Notwithstanding the Senator's effort to address that through having a solicitor certify something, the real...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand where Senator Mullen is coming from but we are trying not to have an "either-or" scenario. We are trying to ensure there is no question that where medical practitioners face critical situations and have put before them an EPA and an advance healthcare directive, they will know the legislation is moving away from that situation and only one document will guide medical...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Senator Mullen is correct that the EPA gives much wider latitude in terms of those decisions. The concern at play here is that, for the healthcare practitioner, that degree of specificity is really important and that is provided for through the mechanism of the advance healthcare directive. The preference is that the advance healthcare directive is used because, rather than, as the Senator...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The reason behind the change being made here was to give the relevant person more autonomy. The new role for registration with the DSS rather than with the court will be less costly and should be easier to process than is the case under the current system. The two-stage nature means that for as long as the relevant person has capacity, he or she is in a position to influence or change the...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Amendment No. 39, along with some technical amendments, provides for additional provisions in respect of the maintaining of a register of AHDs by the decision support service. My colleague, the Minister for Health, will have a regulation-making power to establish and maintain a register of AHDs which will be subject to new provisions provided by this amendment. The provisions specify what...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The central issue is that the law is not clear in terms of the ability of 16- and 17-year-olds to overrule their legal guardians. That is an unclear part of our law in regard to a wide range of areas. The issue is wider than what we are considering in this Chamber. Senator Ruane alluded to the many complex situations in which this arises. I have my own view about where the balance should...

Seanad: Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Bill 2022: Committee Stage (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: From my officials' engagement with the Department of Justice, I think there are ad hocsituations in which individual types of healthcare, dental practice and so on allow for the consent to treatment but there is no clear legal right for a 16- or 17-year-old to refuse treatment in a situation where that is contrary to the view of a parent or guardian. That is the central issue here.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, administers the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme which provides funding support to 121 Family Resource Centres across the country. My Department allocates core funding for the Family Resource Centre Programme and since 2018 has provided an additional €4.5m bringing Tusla's core budget to €18.0m for Family Resource Centres. Tusla had also...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the subject matter of the Deputy's question relates to an operational matter for Tusla, I have referred the matter to them for a direct reply

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme are payable from the start of the week in which the child is registered by the early learning and childcare service provider, subject to approval of the registration by the parent. Subsidies cannot be paid for a time before this point as backdating is not permitted. As the Scheme's systems operate on a weekly basis, payment will be made for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Housing Provision (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a matter more appropriate for my cabinet colleague, the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. Since 2015, significant increases in State investment in early learning and childcare has given rise to a substantial growth in the numbers of children participating in these services. Every year, more than 100,000 children participate on the universal pre-school programme (ECCE) and the National...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (28 Sep 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I acknowledge that many early learning and childcare services are reporting staffing difficulties in relation to recruitment and retention. In general, staffing pressures in the sector are caused not by insufficient supply of qualified personnel, but by high levels of staff turnover, and recruitment and staff retention difficulties are undoubtedly linked to pay and conditions, with for...