Results 8,381-8,400 of 11,729 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I see the successor strategy to Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures as being hugely important. There is always the decision of whether to go narrow and centralise the decision-making process or make it broad and ensure all parts of government are acting towards it. That is that balancing element. Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures, the policy framework that is ending now, has been really...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: We are always looking to support innovative and co-operative work with youth organisations and other sectors as well. My capital budget in this area is not huge - I have to be upfront about that - and much of it at the moment is being spent on supporting existing services and maintenance. Many of the buildings in youth services are old and we are backing them up. What I have been able to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has strongly supported young people throughout the pandemic with a range of supports, in particular financially. We provided an additional €5 million in both budget 2021 and budget 2022. We have continued to provide those financial supports in order that we can have more services. I visited the Kilkenny and Ossory youth services, based in Kilkenny city. Under its UBU,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Poverty (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 16, 17 and 24 together. I too had a good meeting with the ombudsman about that report and we discussed his ideas in detail. The Department of Social Protection leads on the Roadmap for Social Inclusion 2020–2025, which is aimed at reducing poverty and improving social inclusion. Under the roadmap, a new child poverty target is being agreed....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am aware that work is ongoing in the area of flexible working. Some of that is through my Department and some is through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. I believe that a monitoring element would be really useful in the context of getting the take-up. We have seen a huge increase in the take-up of parental leave by both parents. Whereas originally and pre-pandemic it...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is important for service providers to have flexibility in staffing arrangements and in how they structure their organisations. I also believe that a career structure will be necessary to support the further professionalisation of the sector and to make careers in the sector more attractive. Establishing clear and supported career pathways is important in improving the recruitment and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is absolutely right. Just like him, I too have met constituents and young people, primarily young women, who have done the four years of a level 7 or level 8 course, and who then decided not to go into the sector because they did not see that career pathway for them. As the Deputy noted, the issues are primarily pay and conditions. Childcare professionals are not paid enough and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is my understanding that childcare professionals will be able to avail of the sick pay scheme on which the Tánaiste is working at the moment. I can certainly touch base with him on that. My Department has been in constant touch with the Tánaiste because we are aware that the lack of sick pay, particularly in light of the current crisis, has been a major issue for the sector. I...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Youth Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department works very closely with young people and representatives of organisations serving young people to make decisions around the prioritisation of available Exchequer funding. Their input in recent years has greatly informed budgetary decisions. For the past number of years, the annual capital budget available to youth services has been approximately €3 million. Decisions...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Direct Provision System (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I acknowledge the point made there by Deputy Carroll-MacNeill and the Minister, Deputy O’Brien, will be very happy if someone does not want HAP, if they can provide for themselves. We have always made provision where some people here are seeking international protection but do not enter direct provision because they are in a situation where they can provide for themselves. There is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. The National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 which I published in April, sets out a phased, incremental approach to extending supports and regulation to all non-relative childminders. It aims to improve access to high quality and affordable early learning and care and school-age childcare through childminding. During phase 1 of the plan, which began recently...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. As she knows I have met with colleagues from her party on that comprehensive policy work that her party undertook. The issue of flexibility is of great importance and childminding is a very significantly flexible element of the early years sector. There is a very large number of people working in childminding. The parents who use those services cannot, for the most...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Organisations (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The approach that is being adopted in the village the Deputy is talking about is a really interesting one and could have genuine benefits. We are aware that the difficulty in securing capital for community buildings is a major issue for so many community organisations, be they sports clubs, youth services or more general kinds of groups. I would certainly be happy to talk to the Department...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Direct Provision System (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 12, 44, 74, 77 and 82 together. Earlier this year, I published a White Paper to end direct provision and establish a new international protection support service. Since then, my Department has taken a series of steps to implement these reforms, with a view to completing them by the end of 2024. A staff team has been established in my Department to...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Direct Provision System (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: On regularisation, I am meeting the Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and the Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Deputy James Browne, after oral questions to launch the regularisation scheme. I am very excited about that. It is an important development, for which my party pushed very strongly in negotiating the programme for Government. The Minister and Minister of State...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. I agree with her. The national records and memorial centre will be really important. It will be important for survivors as it will be a physical manifestation of a recognition of what happened to them and, as the Deputy stated, it will provide a place for their stories and personal accounts to be told. It is important for society as well in terms of educating people...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I agree with the Deputy on that point of communication. My Department is endeavouring to ensure we communicate effectively on this issue. We send out a quarterly bulletin to approximately 500 survivors who are on a mailing list. We engage with them by way of the quarterly update, but also letting them know when major announcements are being made, such as in respect of the recently...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Organisations (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Sporting activity has an important role to play in the development of young people and addressing many of their needs. The programmes offered by various Departments can collectively offer that kind of holistic response to the needs of young people. The infrastructure of youth services across the country that are funded by my Department includes the 30 national youth organisations, a...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Sports Organisations (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Speaking as one who was not hugely involved in sport as a young person, what my Department seeks to offer is alternatives for young people who are not as interested in team sports in particular as some other young people, but who want to have that element of social development that, for many young people, is filled by sports. It is really important for us to get that balance to encourage...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Departmental Funding (3 Dec 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy said, we secured an additional €183 million of funding in budget 2022, bringing my Department's overall budget to €2.1 billion. The increase will be targeted at improving outcomes for children, young people and their families, as well as promoting equality and human rights. I am allocating an extra €78 million for the early learning and school-age...