Results 9,741-9,760 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Pre-legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Certain Institutional Burials (Authorised Interventions) Bill (Resumed) (18 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Chairman and look forward to talking to members of the committee about the information and tracing legislation soon.

Seanad: Young People: Motion (17 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am pleased to be here in the Seanad to speak to this important motion. I thank Senator Seery Kearney for bringing it forward and I thank all the Senators for their contributions. A wide range of issues has been raised, some of which fall directly within my Department's remit while others are within the remit of my Cabinet colleagues. I will try to address as many as I can in the time...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Maternity Leave (13 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Maternity Protection Acts 1994-2004 provide for up to 26 weeks maternity leave with a maternity benefit available to those who qualify, and a further 16 weeks unpaid leave. Where a child is born prematurely, additional weeks may be available. I believe the Deputy is referring to a requirement on employers to pay salary during maternity leave. As noted above, maternity benefit is...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Schemes (13 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As I previously advised the Deputy in my reply to Question No 87 of 29 April 2021, the person in question is no longer an applicant for international protection and is consequently ineligible for the provision of accommodation under the European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018. It is open to the person in question to make another application to the Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Data (13 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Green Public Procurement in Department of Children, Equality, Diversity, Integration and Youth The Department’s ambition in relation to Green Public Procurement is to reduce its impact on the environment by introducing measures to reduce its carbon footprint in order to achieve the goals set out in the Climate Action Plan. This is strategised in our Corporate Procurement Plan...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Schemes (13 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to confirm to the Deputy that refugees welcomed to Ireland under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme based in my Department are offered a range of supports to assist in their integration to Irish society. On arrival, programme refugees are generally accommodated in one of three centres where various State agencies provide supports including health, education for children and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Agreements (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department made a comprehensive submission to the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 seeking confirmation as to whether Ireland was in a position to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The advice received from the AGO stated that while Ireland is largely compliant with the terms of the Protocol, there are some outstanding issues that...

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

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am aware of the challenges facing school-age childcare, as well as early learning and care services, caused by the ongoing pandemic. Support is available to concerned services through Case Management. My Department oversees a Case Management process through which local CCCs and Pobal work together to assess and provide support to early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC)...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Direct Provision System (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy may be aware, the closure or otherwise of temporary accommodation premises for the housing of frontline healthcare workers operated by the HSE is entirely a matter for the HSE. The Social Inclusion Office of the HSE has assured the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) of my Department that there are no plans to discontinue its accommodation scheme and has...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Expenditure (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The following are the amounts expended by the Department on advertising and awareness-raising initiatives directly on foot of COVID-19, from March 2020 to-date. Department Initiative Media Organisation Total Spend Reopening of Childcare Inventive Marketing Ltd t/a KICK Communications €2,804 Reopening of Childcare...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The supply of, and demand for, ELC and SAC places is currently monitored annually through the Early Years Sector Profile report. This survey is conducted by Pobal on behalf of my Department. Data from the 2018/2019 programme year, indicates that existing childcare provision, in general, meets current demand nationwide in terms of capacity, whilst recognising that small pockets of under...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The supply of, and demand for, ELC and SAC places is currently monitored annually through the Early Years Sector Profile report. This survey is conducted by Pobal on behalf of my Department. Data from the 2018/2019 programme year, indicates that existing childcare provision, in general, meets current demand nationwide in terms of capacity, whilst recognising that small pockets of under...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department funds numerous childcare schemes to help parents’ access quality childcare at a more affordable cost, these include: - The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) which launched in November 2019 and replaced a number of pre-existing childcare support programmes and the universal childcare subsidy with a single scheme to help parents meet the cost of quality childcare, - Community...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: First 5: A Whole of Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families, published in November 2018, sets out an ambitious programme of work across Government Departments to improve the experiences and outcomes of children in Ireland from birth to age 5 across all aspects of their lives in the coming ten years. Included in First 5 is a commitment to designing a new Funding Model...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ombudsman for Children (12 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I welcome the Report of the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) “Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision” and my Department accepts its recommendations in full. The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) of my Department has embarked upon a series of actions, planned for the short to medium term which will build upon existing work to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Probation and Welfare Service (11 May 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.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ombudsman for Children (11 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I welcome the report of the Ombudsman for Children’s Office (OCO) “Safety and Welfare of Children in Direct Provision” and my Department accepts its recommendations in full. I am pleased that the recommendations of Dr Muldoon's Office are being acted on by all of the relevant agencies. While a good deal of work has been undertaken in the past number of years to...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Years Sector (11 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Officials of my Department are currently in correspondence with the parents of the child referred to by the Deputy, and a final decision will issue to them shortly.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Workplace Relations Commission (11 May 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 560, 562, 566 and 570 together. In August 2019, the union referred to by the Deputy, which represents the managers of the County Childcare Committees (CCC) and the CCC Boards of Management, who are the employers of CCC staff, engaged in a review of CCC managers’ pay. The employers and the union agreed that the CCC manager should be regraded from a...