Results 10,681-10,700 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 112, 113 and 118 together. Following its five year statutory inquiry, the Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters delivered its Final Report to me on 30 October last. I signalled previously that there would be a short time interval between receipt of the report and its publication, having regard to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Food Poverty (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Food poverty is defined as the inability to access a nutritionally adequate diet which is a significant issue for many people in Ireland. Child poverty brings together many issues that families in Ireland are facing everyday including unemployment and income poverty, homelessness, educational disadvantage and food poverty. I am acutely aware that COVID-19 has adversely impacted the lives of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The purpose of the Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related matters) Records, and another Matter, Act 2020 was to preserve the records of the Commission and to ensure that they would be transferred to my Department without redaction. In addition, the Act provided for the transfer of a database to Tusla so that ultimately, it could be used for information and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: In response to Covid-19, many measures have been put in place by the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) in conjunction with the HSE. These measures were first implemented from the time that country-wide restrictions were imposed in March and April this year and they continue to be implemented and added to for all our accommodation centres. Recently, my officials in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation will stand dissolved in law on 28th February 2021 and is due to submit its archive of records to myself as the specified Minister by that date. My Department is working intensively to ensure that it is properly resourced to handle subject access requests from possibly very large numbers of people who were resident in mother and baby...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Covid-19 Pandemic Supports (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has introduced a number of measures to support the early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC) sector during the Covid period. From the closure of ELC and SAC services on 12 March, the payments under the schemes funded by the then Department of Children and Youth Affairs were continued on an ex-gratiabasis. The Temporary Wage Subsidy Childcare Scheme(TWSCS)...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to advise the Deputy that Tusla has shared proposals for the restructuring of the Agency with my officials. As per Section 53 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, the appointment of employees to Tusla requires my approval and the consent of my colleague, Mr. Michael McGrath TD, Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and I can confirm that Tusla’s proposals for...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Parental Leave (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Government takes the needs of working parents very seriously , and particularly the difficulties they are facing in the current pandemic. There has been a number of advances in the leave available to working parents in recent years. The Parent’s Leave and Benefit Act 2019 introduced paid parent’s leave of two weeks for each parent to be taken in the first year of a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Accommodation centres are subject to regular unannounced inspections by both my officials in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) and an independent inspectorate company (QTS Limited).These inspections are generally undertaken, twice yearly by my officials in IPAS and once yearly by QTS Limited. Inspections cover a wide range of issues including the quality of the food,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Services (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The response to Domestic, Sexual Violence and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue. Policy is coordinated by the Department of Justice. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 for the care and protection of victims of Domestic, Sexual and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV). I am...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Services (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 126 and 139 together. The response to Domestic, Sexual Violence and Gender-based Violence (DSGBV) is a cross Departmental and multi-agency issue. Policy is coordinated by the Department of Justice. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has statutory responsibility under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 for the care and protection of victims of DSGBV. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is a matter for each registered provider, within the context of their specific service provision, to determine whether structural amendments to their premises were / are required in order to meet the on-going public health requirements. Some services may have altered their premises for the purpose of meeting COVID-19 requirements by using temporary, demountable partitions in existing...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, administers the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme. Tusla has informed me that it receives expressions of interest, from time to time, from voluntary organisations seeking FRC status. It is advisable for any organisation interested in such a process to contact Tusla directly, so that Tusla is aware of that organisation's interest in the event that...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Government has introduced a number of measures to support early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services during these unprecedented times. The Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), introduced in August, provides a flat-rate subsidy to qualifying employers based on numbers of eligible employees on payroll; and a reduced rate of employer PRSI. ELC and SAC services...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for his question. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has advised that the following data is a count of admissions to care and not individual children admitted to care. A small number of children may have more than one admission. It should be noted that 'care' spans the continuum of foster care, residential care and special care. There were 856 admissions to care...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: International Protection (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Discussions are ongoing between my Department ##officials and the HSE to enable formal vulnerability assessments for international protection applicants by the end of the year. This will ensure that a coherent process is in place for both the health and non-health aspects required in formalised assessments. To assist in determining how best we can meet the health and related needs of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I am pleased to confirm that I secured an additional €5 million in current funding for youth services nationally as part of Budget 2021. My officials are currently working on the apportionment of these funds in the context of the publication of the Revised Estimates Volume later this year. As such, I am not in a position as yet to provide a detailed breakdown of these allocations. ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Children who arrive into the State seeking International Protection are generally part of a family group or they arrive as unaccompanied minors. Unaccompanied minors are not accommodated in our accommodation services. Unaccommodated minors always go into the care of Tusla. Tusla has a dedicated Separated Children Seeking Asylum (SCSA) Team, which has developed expertise through...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Asylum Seekers (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Officials of the International Protection Accommodation Service of my Department make every effort to ensure that residents' of our accommodation centres, including the National Reception Centre at Balseskin, have their specific needs met. They routinely identify vulnerabilities and assess applicants for any special reception needs to meet their accommodation requirements. This is especially...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for his question. My Department and Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, closely monitor child protection and welfare referrals trends. When Covid-19 restrictions were first introduced, with schools closing on 12 March 2020, there was an initial decrease in referrals to child protection and welfare services, from an average of 1,504 per week, to 968 per week for the...