Results 10,881-10,900 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department operates an annual capital funding programme, under which early learning and care and school-age childcare service providers are invited to apply for capital funding to enable them to carry out works to maintain and develop their premises. The purposes for which this funding can be used are determined on an annual basis by my Department I will announce details of the 2021...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Parental Leave (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: To support parents of children born during the strict lockdown measures, the Government intends to extend parent's leave from two weeks to five weeks for each parent of all children born or adopted on or after 1 Nov 2019. The Government also intends to extend the period in which parent's leave can be taken up until that child turns two or, in the case of an adoption, two years after the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is the duty of our State and - following the State’s opt-in to the European Communities (Reception Conditions) Regulations 2018 - a legal requirement to offer accommodation, food and a range of other services (including meals, utilities, healthcare etc.) and allowances to any person who claims a right to international protection in Ireland while their legal claim is being examined....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Covid-19 Pandemic (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I can advise the Deputy that my Department did not incur expenditure in respect of hand sanitisation products or other PPE products that were subsequently subject to a recall by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine in 2020. In the case of agencies under the aegis of my Department, I can convey the following information. I am informed by the Adoption Authority of Ireland...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Commissions of Investigation (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters submitted its final report to me on the 30th October 2020. I had signalled that there would be a short time interval between receipt of the report and the separate arrangements for its publication. A number of relevant procedural issues are being expedited to ensure I can seek the approval of Government to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I understand that the Deputy is referring to a person who is experiencing difficulties accessing their MyGov.ie account. However, since MyGov.ie is the responsibility of the Department of Social Protection the matter should be raised with my colleague Deputy Heather Humphreys, Minister for Social Protection.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department currently funds the youth services mentioned by the Deputy through the 'UBU Your Place Your Space' Scheme. This is a targeted youth funding scheme aimed at supporting young people between the ages of 10 and 24 who are at risk of becoming disadvantaged, marginalised or vulnerable. This scheme sets out the process by which new services may enter the scheme and how existing...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I appreciate the Chairman's indulgence on time. I am going to the first meeting on the national Traveller and Roma integration strategy and want to be there on time. I am very pleased to be here today to discuss my Department’s Further Revised Estimate for 2020. As members will recall, I appeared before the committee on 6 October when I presented the Estimate for the Department of...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I have not had a chance to go through that report in detail. It was sent to me yesterday and I received it this morning. I welcome the report and I welcome the engagement of academics and NGOs in continuing to highlight what we all know is the absolute unsuitability of direct provision and the need to move to a new system. I look forward to engaging with them further. The fact that they...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I confirm I am not happy about Brexit so that is on the record. I take Deputy Costello's point and we will have a small piece in the Brexit omnibus Bill about the national childcare scheme and its application for British citizens living here post Brexit. The Deputy raised this point with me previously and I will come back to him about it if that is okay. At our last meeting, the Deputy...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. There are a couple of points. Obviously, people are living in direct provision centres at the moment and some have been there for a long time. We all recognise that is not right. In living there for a long time, however, they have become involved in their local communities and we welcome that. One of the goals of the new system is that people will not be waiting such...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy and the Chair for their points. On the wider issue of work-life balance, there are a number of initiatives that we are looking at, particularly in the context of work and gender. As the committee is aware, in the previous Dáil the gender pay gap legislation made significant progress, reached Report Stage. However, when the new Dáil reconvened, it was put back...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Chair is aware, when Covid hit in March 2020, services in all areas of society, including early years services, shut down. As a result, payments under the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme, the national childcare scheme, NCS, and the other saver schemes ceased.

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Payments ceased for a number of months during the year. They resumed for services that deliver a service over the summer on 29 June 2020, and for the others, at the end of August or the beginning of September. That meant that there was a saving, particularly in the ECCE scheme and the NCS over the course of the year where payments were not being made. As the committee knows, we brought in...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I take that point. I am not sure if we will know from 1 January. It might be a little bit later. We hope to know in early 2021 if parents can take the leave at that point and claim the benefit later. We intend to have everything squared away by 1 April to allow parents to take the leave and claim the payment. We will look for clarity on that point as soon as possible. We are working to...

Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs: Estimates for Public Services 2020
Vote 40 - Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (Further Revised) (12 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I take that point. As the Deputy will be aware, my Department provided additional support for lone-parent families under several headings in the budget.

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Youth Services (11 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Senator for raising this matter. We have not left young people out in our response to Covid. Young people have been central in the response not just of the Government but also of my Department. We are aware that Covid has disrupted all elements of life across the country and has had a particular impact on the well-being of young people. Their educational progress has been...

Seanad: Nithe i dtosach suíonna - Commencement Matters: Youth Services (11 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I fully agree that investing in our youth is fundamentally important. I have outlined how my Department has done that and will continue to do that. I am always open to considering all avenues. We changed the public health guidelines to ensure that youth services could open even in level 5, albeit in small groups. I talked to a scout leader yesterday whose cubs had met for the first time...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (11 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Responsibility for the provision of accommodation for applicants for International Protection transferred to my Department from the Department of Justice on 14 October, 2020. I published the report by the Advisory Group on the Provision of Support, including Accommodation, to Persons in the International Protection Process on 21 October. Minister McEntee and I submitted the report to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Direct Provision System (11 Nov 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 162 and 163 together. I am aware of a number of complaints emanating from social media regarding the living conditions in the accommodation centres referred to by the Deputy. Accommodation centres are subject to regular unannounced inspections by both my officials in the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) and an independent...