Results 10,881-10,900 of 11,960 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Early Years Sector (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I fully agree with the Deputy and am very aware of the pressures that childcare professionals are under, from the raw data we get from work such as the report the Deputy mentioned and from my engagement at a constituency level. I have talked to childcare professionals and heard how they feel that having gone through significant training and education to take up the role, they are not...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Childcare Scheme (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Initially, it is important to state that stay-at-home parents are not excluded from the national childcare scheme. More than 44,000 children have benefited from that scheme to date and included in that are many children of stay-at-home parents. The NCS universal subsidy is up to €1,170 per year and is available to all families, including stay-at-home parents. An income-related...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: National Childcare Scheme (3 Dec 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I take seriously the points raised by the Deputy on this issue. That is one of the reasons we are taking this new initiative to make parents aware of the wide range of courses they can take. If they take courses, many of which are level 1, for two hours per week, they get the full 45 hours of childcare, which will resolve that particular issue. That was probably not well known. That is...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: First 5the ten-year Strategy on Babies and Young Children, was published in November 2018 and pledged to double investment in early learning and care and school-age childcare over the period 2019-2028. In order to double investment from the 2018 baseline, we will need to invest an additional €485 million over the lifetime of the Strategy. I recently published the First 5 Annual...

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

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

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

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

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

Roderic O'Gorman: The archives of the Commission of Investigation will be transferred to my Department by 28 February 2021, when the Commission of Investigation is dissolved. 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 homes. In that regard, they are also...

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

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

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

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has, since 2015, administered an annual capital funding programme, under which early learning and care and school-age childcare services providers are invited to apply for capital funding to increase capacity and to maintain and improve their services. The 2020 Capital programme was launched on 26 February with a budget of €7.2million allocated across three strands: the...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: As part of ongoing work to produce a Workforce Development Plan for the early learning and care and school age childcare sector, my Department carried out an online public consultation process between August and October this year. This was done in conjunction with a public consultation process on the development of a new funding model for the sector. The consultation process included an...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: First 5 was published in November 2018. This Strategy, a constituent strategy under Better Outcomes Brighter Futures (BOBF), focuses on the period of early childhood and takes a joined-up, cross-government approach to supporting babies, young children and their families during these early years. It identifies approximately 150 actions to be progressed in the initial implementation phase. ...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to ending the Direct Provision system and replacing it with a new International Protection accommodation policy, centred on a not-for-profit approach. The Government has also committed to the development of a White Paper which will set out how this new system will be structured and the steps to achieving it. My Department is currently...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: The importance of listening to children and young people is fundamental to the work of my Department and, to that end, Ireland is unique in Europe in having a National Strategy on Children and Young People’s Participation in Decision-making. My Department is responsible for policy leadership in the participation of children and young people in decision-making and for oversight of...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 109, 119 and 134 together. The Government is committed to examining the introduction of a new ground of discrimination, based on socio-economic disadvantaged status, to the Employment Equality and Equal Status Acts. A research report on socio-economic disadvantage as a new grounds of discrimination has been commissioned andis currently being carried out by...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to end the Direct Provision system and replace it with a new International Protection accommodation policy, centred on a not-for-profit approach. The Government has also committed to the development of a White Paper which will set out how this new system will be structured and the steps to achieving it. My Department is currently...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: The Programme for Government contains a commitment to ending the Direct Provision system and replacing it with a new International Protection accommodation policy, centred on a not-for-profit approach. The Government has also committed to the development of a White Paper which will set out how this new system will be structured and the steps to achieving it. My Department is currently...

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...