Results 7,061-7,080 of 11,700 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Poverty (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I believe that significant progress can be made through my Department’s coordination of the EU Child Guarantee, an important initiative which aims to combat social exclusion by guaranteeing access for children who are in need of a range of key services. The EU Child Guarantee calls on Member States to guarantee for children in need, free access to early childhood education and...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the committee for the opportunity for me and officials from my Department to come before it to speak about the role our Department has played in the response to the crisis in Ukraine. Ireland and the Government continue to condemn the invasion of Ukraine in the strongest possible terms. We reiterate our commitment to offer humanitarian assistance, safety and shelter to those forced...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank Deputy Ward for his comments and recognition of the work done by staff in my Department. I agree with everything he said. The impact of this war will be felt by individual Ukrainians in different ways, in different circumstances and at different times. In terms of the health services we have in place for Ukrainians, when they arrive in the Citywest welcome centre there is a HSE...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand that if particular issues have been flagged by the HSE at Citywest, those issues are addressed. There have been situations where people have been undergoing cancer treatment in Ukraine and they are accommodated in a location near a major hospital where they can continue to get that treatment. If an issue has not been flagged, there is no way to move it forward. If an issue...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank Deputy Cairns and acknowledge what the Chair said. The Government is working according to the temporary protection directive, which is an EU directive that directs all 27 member states on how to respond to the Ukraine crisis. It is a directive that I am comfortable working with. It extends significant rights to Ukrainian displaced persons when they come to this country. It enables...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will try to address Deputy Cathal Crowe's points. He spoke to a wider point at the start. The difference in treatment is because of the temporary protection directive. We, along with all EU member states, have been directed to give these particular rights to Ukrainians. That may be a convincing or an unconvincing reason but it is the reason. That is what the Government is working...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is a specific helpline with which the Deputy can get in touch. If there is a particular problem, the Deputy can always contact me and I will do my best to get past whatever bottleneck he or other Deputies are experiencing.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: There will be times, throughout all of our response to the situation, when problems will arise. Working co-operatively, I believe we can surmount them.

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am not trying to be trite in any way and I hear what the Deputy is saying but we are in a European war right now. This is not normality in any context. We are responding to a European war that, as one Deputy said, we did not expect to be dealing with last year. We did not expect to dealing with this on 14 February this year. Our response has had to be an emergency response. It is the...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is close co-ordination between my Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the City and County Management Association, CCMA, which acts as a collective voice for the 31 local authorities. Those three bodies are now meeting regularly on the short-term accommodation work that is going on in my Department. Our engagement with local authorities on that is...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will take that point on the importance of communication on board and reflect on it. It is important. There are lots of Departments and State agencies all acting and we recall from Covid that it can be hard to bring everything together in a digestible format. There are Ukrainians in every constituency around the country but the concentrations of displaced persons are higher in certain...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Senator is absolutely right in terms of the fantastic support that local authorities have given my Department, and their parent Department, the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage in responding to this. That work has put pressure on them, which is why I welcome the moves taken by the Minister, Deputy Darragh O’Brien, to designate a new director of services for...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator for her recognition of the work done by the staff across my Department. The point she made in terms of this story moving farther from the front page links in with the point Deputy Cairns made on other conflicts never even making the front page in the first place. The longer conflicts go on or the farther away they are geographically from us, the less prominent they...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: The best thing to do is to move these children across the borders with neighbouring countries and to provide supports there. With regard to intellectual disability, I am again getting advice from those who know best. If we can support measures in that area in any way, we will. Where people arrive in Ireland who have a disability, whether physical, intellectual or sensory, there is an...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will come in on those matters quickly. It is a really important question and I thank the Deputy for putting it on the record. Up to this point, 80 unaccompanied minors from Ukraine have been notified to Tusla. Tusla has a presence at Dublin Airport and engages where unaccompanied minors are identified. Of those 80, 35 have subsequently been reunited. Some 55 have been taken into either...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. On the issue of childcare, Ukrainian children are entitled to access the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme, which provides two years of free preschool. Obviously, the number of places available in that scheme varies in different parts of the country. In areas where there is pressure on ECCE services, we work with the city and country childcare...

Joint Committee On Children, Equality, Disability, Integration And Youth: Ukrainian Crisis: Discussion (17 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: That is a lovely illustration of the extent to which communities across the country are coming together to support Ukrainians. I asked an official about the employment accessibility of the early years sector after the Chairman raised the matter in the Dáil. I received a detailed answer that I forgot to send to her. I apologise for that and will sent it to her today. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Adoption Services (12 May 2022)

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

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Children in Care (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised that it commissioned a scoping exercise to be carried out in relation to possibilities for improved support and services for parents of children in care. Tusla recognises that while there are some localised examples of very good practice in this regard, there has not been a uniform approach applied throughout the country to date. At the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Wards of Court (12 May 2022)

Roderic O'Gorman: As this is an operational matter, the question has been referred to Tusla for direct reply.