Results 9,241-9,260 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The statutory Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes was established and operated in accordance with the Commissions of Investigation Act 2004. While a range of views have been expressed in reaction to the Commission’s Final Report, it is important to emphasise that the Commission was entirely independent in the performance of its functions and this independence was...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: A Vulnerability Assessment process, as provided for under Regulation 8 of the European Union (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018, is currently being piloted by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) of my Department. The pilot commenced in December 2020 and was extended to all new applicants for international protection from the beginning of February. The pilot will...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department is currently responding to subject access requests from individuals whose personal data is contained in the archive. The policy of my Department is to release to individuals who request their personal information as much information as legally possible from the Commission’s archives, consistent with the approach required under the GDPR. Under 1989 Regulations...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The incident in Ballon was wholly unacceptable. I recently raised the Pride flag in Waterford following a similar incident. I felt really privileged to witness the response of the community there, as they came together to stand with the LGBTI+ community, and showed that local communities really do not tolerate acts like this. Indeed, over Pride, I live-streamed the Live Out Loud:...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: In line with emerging best practice to support the integration and independence of children with a disability, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) provides additional funding to pre-schools who have a child requiring extra support. Providers can use this funding either to reduce the child-to-adult ratio in the pre-school room or to fund an extra staff member. This staff member works...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Domestic Violence (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since its formation, this Government has made clear that tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a key priority. The Programme for Government contains a commitment to investigate the provision of paid leave and social protection provision to victims of domestic violence with a view to establishing a statutory entitlement to paid domestic violence leave. The issue of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Deputy, thank you for this very important question. The Child and Family Agency, Tusla, is the dedicated State agency responsible for improving child welfare and protection outcomes for children. As the Deputy may be aware, I secured an additional €61M for the Agency in 2021. This brings the total budget of the Agency to €878M. Tusla’s Child Protection and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Direct Provision System (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As stated in the Programme for Government, the Government is committed to ending the system of Direct Provision and has pledged to replace it with a new International Protection Support Service (IPSS), which will be centred on a not-for profit approach. As part of this process, I published A White Paper to end Direct Provision and to Establish a new International Protection Support Serviceon...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla administers the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme which provides funding support to 121 FRCs across the country. My Department allocates core funding for the FRC Programme and, since 2019, an additional €1.5m has been provided in funding, which has meant that yearly funding has amounted to €18m for this programme. Organisations that wish to join the Programme are...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Gender Balance (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Greater female representation in politics is one of the aims pursued under High-Level Objective Four of the National Strategy for Women and Girls, to advance women in leadership at all levels. My Department has coordinating responsibility for the Strategy, which provides a whole-of-government framework through which women's empowerment can continue to be advanced across Irish society. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Legislative Programme (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act) is a very important piece of legislation that changes the existing law on capacity from the status approach of the wardship system to a flexible functional approach, whereby capacity is assessed on an issue- and time-specific basis. It will abolish the wards of court system for adults by repealing the Lunacy Regulation (Ireland)...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 379 and 380 together. An Independent Review of the Cost of Delivering Childcare in Ireland, undertaken by Crowe in on behalf of my Department, was published in November 2020. The project was designed to provide a robust evidence base for the further development of high quality ELC and SAC in Ireland. The outputs, including the costs calculator developed...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is referring to an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. I have therefore referred the matter to Tusla, and asked that a direct response be provided to the Deputy as soon as possible. Tusla ICT systems have been severely impacted by the cyber-attack on Friday 14 May 2021. This has significant consequences in terms of how Tusla interact with services and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Data (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to provide the following information to the Deputy regarding the interest charged for savings or other funds on deposit in Irish banks since negative interest rates were introduced. Bank Account 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 Total DCYA Current A/c - Bank of Ireland €4,462.93 €7,000.78 ...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The logs of Freedom of Information requests processed by my Department are published on my Department's website at gov.ie. I am informed that the log is up to date up to and including 31 March 2021 and the log for the period covering April to June 2021 will be published shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Since the establishment of my Department, €200 in fees have been charged for Search and Retrieval in relation to the processing of Freedom of Information requests.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Freedom of Information (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: When a Freedom of Information request is deemed valid and accepted for processing, and if the estimated fees for search and retrieval involved in processing the request are found to exceed the maximum threshold, the requestor is offered the opportunity to revise the request and offered assistance to do so. Since the establishment of my Department, no requests have been refused on the basis...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to advise the Deputy that I am not in a position to comment as responsibility for disability services has not yet transferred to my Department. These matters are more appropriate for the attention of my Cabinet colleague, the Minister for Health.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Action Plan for Childminding, which was published in April 2021, aims to improve access, through childminding, to high quality and affordable childcare. The Action Plan sets out a pathway over the next eight years towards regulation, support and subsidies for all paid, non-relative childminders. The Action Plan will involve change and will bring significant benefits for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Anti-Racism Measures (6 Jul 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Anti-Racism Committee is an independent Committee established by Government in 2020 to draw up a National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR) for Ireland. This is in line with the commitment contained within the Programme for Government to publish a new NAPAR. The work of the Committee will help to strengthen the Government’s approach to combatting individual and institutional...