Results 1,081-1,100 of 20,049 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) is a monthly payment of €800 available to those who are providing accommodation to a person or people who arrived in Ireland under the EU Temporary Protection Directive. Please note that a person providing accommodation to BOTPs on a commercial basis is ineligible to participate in the scheme. Where a rental agreement is in place, ARP is...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you, Deputy, for your question. Ireland currently provides accommodation to over 33,000 people applying for international protection and has also welcomed over 114,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. People from Ukraine are supported across the EU under the Temporary Protection Directive. The basis of applying for asylum or refugee status is fleeing war or persecution in one’s...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you, Deputy, for your question. In terms of international protection applicants, we are currently accommodating over 33,000 people, over 9,000 of whom are children with their family. We accommodate people at over 320 different centres nationwide. All residents of IPAS accommodation are provided with a dedicated IPAS Resident Handbook- this handbook contains information about Ireland,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disabilities Assessments (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: My Department funds the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) which provides targeted support so that children with additional needs may access mainstream early learning and childcare settings. The Access and Inclusion Model requires no diagnosis to provide this support. Applications for the Access and Inclusion Model targeted supports are made by the pre-school provider in collaboration with...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you, Deputy, for your question. International Protection Accommodation Service The International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) is providing accommodation to over 33,000 International Protection (IP) applicants, about 9,000 of whom are children. Over the last year, IPAS has been operating at or near capacity, with ongoing profound pressure on bed availability. As such,...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: The Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) was introduced to recognise the generosity of people who have opened their homes to provide accommodation to Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) who arrived in Ireland after fleeing the war in Ukraine. The ARP scheme is provided in Part 2 of the Civil Law (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2022 and is administered by the Department of Social...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Policies (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: The Programme for Government, ‘Securing Ireland’s Future’, contains a commitment to advance legislation to ban conversion practices. Given the complex and sensitive nature of the proposed legislation, my Department is carefully considering the key policy principles that will underpin the legislation to ensure that individuals are protected from harmful conversion...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: As this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: As of December 2024, approximately 90 service providers delivered residential services to 8,660 individuals throughout the country. A number of new emergency residential places have been added to the residential base, which results in a capacity increase. However, it should also be noted that Residential Capacity will also reduce during the year as a result of the loss of places in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you for your question, Deputy. A response will be provided directly to you in the coming days.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Direct Provision System (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you, Deputy, for your question. Our Department has a very urgent need for accommodation for people who are in the international protection application process and are entitled to reception conditions under EU regulations. Our system has been forced to expand dramatically in the last two years, from accommodating 7,000 people at the end of 2021, to now accommodating over 33,000 people....

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: During 2024 my Department received correspondences supporting the establishment by a local organisation of a Family Resource Centre in Carrickmacross. I am aware that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency has also engaged with this organisation. The Deputy may be aware that an additional €800,000 was secured in Budget 2025 for the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme. This additional...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: I can inform the Deputy that a funding equalisation scheme was initiated in 2024 for the Family Resource Centre (FRC) Programme. The scheme ensures that all FRC Programme members receive minimum core funding of at least €160,000 from 2025 onwards. Core funding supports the pivotal role FRCs play in so many communities across the country, where they provide a comprehensive range of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Over the last eleven months this Department has been focused on progressing the Comprehensive Accommodation Strategy (CAS), which was announced in March 2024. The goal is to develop a sustainable international protection accommodation system and enable the State to meet its legal and humanitarian commitments. Accommodation is being sourced and developed through a range of teams, through a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: Toward the end of 2021, Ireland was accommodating about 7,000 people in the international protection system, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine had not yet occurred. Our accommodation systems have been forced to expand at a rapid pace over the last two years in response to a sharp increase in need, among both people fleeing the war in Ukraine, and greater numbers of people applying for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Youth Services (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: I am committed to supporting the delivery and development of youth work services and opportunities for young people across the 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs) including Laois Offaly ETB. For 2024 €133,250 was allocated to Laois Offaly ETB under the ETB Youth Service Grant, to support the ETB in carrying out their functions relating to the administration of the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Consultations (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: I am advised that my Department has engaged in a number of external legal consultations since the beginning of 2023, the details of which are provided in the following table. Consultant/Company Year General nature Report/Recommendations Cost Dr Roisin Costello BL 2023 Referendums on Gender Equality ...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: An Expert Group was established by my Department in 2019 and was in place for over 2 years until 2021. The report from the Expert Group ‘Partnership for the Public Good’ was published in December 2021. This report was informed by research conducted by Frontier Economics and used research previously conducted by Crowe regarding the costs related to providing Early Learning and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Parental Leave (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 757 and 808 together. Under the Parental Leave (Amendment) Act 2019, an employee who is a relevant parent in respect of a child under the age 12 is entitled to 26 weeks’ unpaid parental leave for each child. Where a child has a disability or long-term illness, the entitlement can continue until the child is 16. A relevant parent is a parent, an...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Public Procurement Contracts (25 Feb 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 759 and 760 together. I wish to advise the Deputy that the Department for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth responses are listed in the table below. Bodies under the aegis of the department will respond directly to the Deputy. Contractor Description of Contract Contract Award Value Final Contract Cost ...