Results 9,941-9,960 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Safety (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Where a child has for one reason or another entered the care of Tusla a core feature of the care plan created for the child is the planned reunification with the child's parent/s. This only occurs where it is appropriate and safe to do so. In establishing this a parental capacity assessment is conducted. Parenting capacity is the ability to parent in a capable manner long term. An...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Parental Leave (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 introduced two weeks of paid parent's leave for each parent to be taken in the first year after the birth or adoptive placement of a child. The Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2021 provides an additional three weeks of paid parent's leave to each parent, and to extend the period in which the leave can be taken to the first two...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 719 to 723, inclusive, and 725 together. The role of the City and County Management Association (CCMA) will be to support my Department to develop a national allocation key which will set out the number of applicants for international protection who will be accommodated in urban areas in each county. My Department will work with the CCMA to develop...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Standards meet the requirements of the EU (recast) Reception Conditions Directive (Directive 2013/33/EU) which we voluntarily opted into in June 2018. My Department is engaged in consultations with the Department of Health and HIQA aimed at establishing an independent monitoring mechanism for standards in International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) accommodation...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme is a universal free two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The minimum eligibility age for the ECCE programme was revised in September 2018 when it was reduced from 3 years to 2 years and 8 months. The revised minimum of 2 years and 8 months was chosen based on national experience and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: National Childcare Scheme (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) was introduced in November 2019. Since then, over 50,200 children have benefitted from NCS subsidies. ELC/SAC providers are private businesses and as such it is matter for those businesses to decide whether they enter into any contractual arrangement including for the provision of the NCS. Services contract on an annual basis to participate in the Scheme....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Parental Leave (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: Policy on surrogacy rests with the Minister for Health while policy on parentage rests with the Minister for Justice. Legislation on family leaves must be developed in the context of the legal situation concerning parentage, including in relation to surrogacy. Any changes in the legal situation with regard to parentage and surrogacy are matters for the Minister for Justice and Minister for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The ongoing management of the organisation referred to by the Deputy is a matter for their Board, including the challenges being presented due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions. My Department provides substantial funding to this organisation, which plays an important role in providing young people with opportunities for developmental experiences and informal learning. All of the youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Communications (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Irish Sign Language Act, 2017 was signed into law on 24thDecember 2017. The Minister of State with Responsability for Disabilities, Anne Rabbitte and I jointly signed the commencement order. My Department is responsible for this piece of legislation, although key sections of the Act are the responsability of other Departments. The Act recognises Irish Sign Language (ISL) as a native...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Commencement of Legislation (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The following Acts contain provisions for which my Department has responsibility but which have not yet been commenced : Children (Amendment) Act 2015 (No. 45 of 2015) Section 6(88b), section 8, section 9, section 10, section 16, section 18, section 19 and section 26 of the Children (Amendment) Act 2015 have not yet been commenced as alternative policy proposals for the remission of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services Provision (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Disability Participation and Consultation Network was established in 2020 as a mechanism to ensure that people with a disability and their representative organisations are involved in the development of policy and legislation. The Network is made up of an Organising Member and four Grant Funded Members who play a central role in coordinating and organising the the work of the Network....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services Provision (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Disability Participation and Consultation Network was established in 2020 as a mechanism to ensure that people with a disability and their representative organisations are involved in the development of policy and legislation. The Network is made up of an Organising Member and four Grant Funded Members who play a central role in coordinating and organising the the work of the Network....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Equality Issues (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The LGBTI+ National Youth Strategy was published in 2018 and it is a world first, action-oriented mission to ensure all LGBTI+ young people are visible, valued and included. This Strategy remains a key commitment for my Department as part of the 2020 Programme for Government. The Strategy also plays an important part to achieve the Government's broader commitment to continue to strive for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Equality Issues (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National LGBTI+ Inclusion Strategy 2019 - 2021 provides a framework for improving the lives of LGBTI+ people by enabling their full participation in Ireland's social, economic, cultural, and political life. My Department plays a coordinating role in the implementation and monitoring of the Strategy. In this regard, I chair a monitoring Committee that comprises representatives of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child Protection (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Independent Review into illegal birth registrations, which was published recently, concluded that it is unlikely that a more comprehensive review of records would provide clear information relating to the existence of markers or wording suggestive of markers and the degree to which they may potentially be linked to incorrect birth registrations. Notwithstanding this, I am aware that...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: The ongoing management of the organisation referred to by the Deputy is a matter for their Board, including the challenges being presented due to the recent Covid-19 restrictions. My Department provides substantial funding to this organisation, which plays an important role in providing young people with opportunities for developmental experiences and informal learning. All of the youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (31 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to inform the Deputy that my officials have asked Tusla to respond directly to you on this matter.

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand where the Deputy is coming from but this is not something that can be done on a temporary basis. We are dealing with primary legislation here and if we put in three years we would have to bring in primary legislation to take that out if we decided to shorten the period. It is different from dealing with it through a statutory instrument. We are making a significant change to...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the leave is currently designed, it has to be taken within the first year of the child's birth. My proposal is that this can be taken in the first two years. Deputy Whitmore's alternative is the first three years. I suppose we are trying to achieve a balance. The core reason we are bringing it out to two years is that acknowledgement of the difficulties faced by families and by new...

Family Leave and Miscellaneous Provisions Bill 2021: Committee and Remaining Stages (25 Mar 2021)

Roderic O'Gorman: We are being proactive in bringing in the three-week provision this year and in extending it out to the first two years of birth. This extension is to recognise the difficulties new parents have had during the Covid crisis and the lack of traditional supports, be they immediate family supports or the wider societal supports that families normally seek to avail of. We have demonstrated a...