Results 11,261-11,280 of 11,960 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (21 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department operates a number of Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC)schemes to assist all parents, including frontline workers, with childcare needs.  The main supports are set out below. The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) The NCS was introduced in November 2019. It offers a statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. It establishes an...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: National Childcare Scheme (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is the third to raise issues with the hive system today. Again, I acknowledge there have been problems. I believe some of these problems are specific to the Covid-19 context we are in, but I also acknowledge that the response could have been better. We have to learn from that for the registration scheme next year. The information technology system used to administer...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: City and County Child Care Committees (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: As regards the specific situation of the managers, there is a process in train and I am happy to update the Deputy on that and to engage with that process. On the wider issue of pay across the sector, we discussed this issue extensively during questions raised earlier by a number of Deputies. The funding model work is examining how we can target funding towards goals such as reducing...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I will focus on elements that Tusla has undertaken as the child and family agency and set out the work it has done. During the first four weeks following the restrictions, there was a significant reduction of 36% in the number of referrals to Tusla. At that point, Tusla rolled out a significant information campaign across social media and traditional media as well, reminding the public that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Tusla identified three core priorities during the lockdown, domestic violence, children in residential care and their ongoing interaction with their parents and children in foster care as well. It focused all its resources in those particular areas. We have had the opportunity to discuss the specific supports provided for domestic violence services to ensure that they had additional staff,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Equality Issues (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is a question on the issue of equality. In recent years, Ireland has taken some significant steps towards addressing inequality across the country. The programme for Government commits to building on this progress to ensure that everyone living in Ireland enjoys full equality. Following the transfer last week to my Department of functions formerly in the Department of Justice and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Equality Issues (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: There is not enough time to talk about the range of issues that fall within the equality brief and the range of challenges. I am incredibly excited to hold this brief. It is an area I am and have been very passionate about throughout all of my life, including prior to my involvement in politics. There is a very detailed section in the programme for Government on equality and all of these...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. The ECCE scheme involves a flat rate per child. The really good point about the NCS is that the subsidy can be tailored to the particular child. The NCS gives greater subsidies to those children who are most in need because of their familial circumstances. Therefore, the amount that each provider is getting has to be linked to the particular child, and that is done...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has been providing a substantial amount of money to all childcare providers across the country this year though the employment wage subsidy scheme and predecessor schemes to reduce greatly the burden of paying staff. I hope that same system will not be needed next year, assuming we move away from the current Covid circumstances. Where there are problems, both Pobal and the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: City and County Child Care Committees (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. Officials of my Department are reviewing the Workplace Relations Commission's consideration of the pay rates of the managers of the CCCs. The CCCs comprise one of the key support mechanisms of my Department. I acknowledge the important role they play in providing support and guidance to early learning and care and school-age childcare providers and parents. The CCCs act...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: City and County Child Care Committees (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I met with representatives from SIPTU once in respect of this matter. I have met with those representatives in the context of wider engagement with the childcare sector on a number of occasions. I met with representatives of ICTU once. This specific issue did not arise in those contexts. I am happy to address it if it does come up. There is a need for increased trade union representation...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic Violence Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has undertaken research on the impact of the lockdown on young children. We carried out detailed research with SpunOut, How's your Head, which was both qualitative and quantitative in nature and by means of which we engaged with thousands of young people. The outcome of that influenced the Framework for Reopening and Operating Schools that was launched some months ago,...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The HIVE is part of the new early years platform which Pobal uses to administer the various early learning and childcare schemes. It is a self-service portal which has been designed to be accessible, intuitive and meet the current and the future needs of service providers. To date, for this programme year, September 2020 to August 2021, there are almost 130,000 children registered on the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I cannot disagree with anything the Deputy said. I am not making excuses but there is a context in terms of Covid-19 whereby a significant change is being made to a system. Training and significant online seminars were provided to providers but, understandably, many of the latter were focused on reopening, putting in place the Perspex screens and spending the capital grants we had given...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Part of the organisational review I spoke about earlier - the three pieces of work - is to look at the overall infrastructure, whether there are elements of duplication and how we can make the system better and more streamlined. Part of that work is ongoing and, in fairness, my Department identified that there are issues in that regard. As regards the initial setting up in the HIVE, once...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The NCS was launched in November 2019. There are currently 33,700 children accessing NCS subsidies. In addition, there are children benefiting from the legacy schemes also. The online application process was designed to be accessible and user-friendly, although I acknowledge that not everybody found it so. The flexibility of the NCS means that the scheme is designed to recognise that...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: This is why we have this range of research which is being undertaken now. The funding model research is particularly important because it is looking at what happens in other European countries and how we can use State investment to target and reward providers and specifically reward staff who have higher levels of qualifications. This is essential. We are not just looking at the unit costs...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I fully agree with the Deputy on the wages and conditions in the sector. I made the point about one particular condition, namely, sick pay, which has been highlighted to me by both SIPTU and ICTU. Now that the Government is looking at a national solution to sick pay, which is very welcome, I will ensure that this solution addresses the childcare sector as well. I also fully agree with...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is correct that wages account for 70% of costs on average. The wage subsidy scheme is meeting 82% of staff costs in this emergency. In this way, we have acted to ensure that even as numbers in childcare fall, as parents lose their jobs or work at home and no longer need childcare services as much or are just nervous about the current situation, we are continuing to support...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Domestic Violence Services (20 Oct 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for his question. Everyone is aware of the great importance of the domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services at any time but now, in light of the current circumstances, they are particularly important. I welcome the focus by a number of Deputies on this particular issue. Improving services for victims of domestic violence is a key priority for the...