Results 11,341-11,360 of 11,744 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Thank you deputy for highlighting this important matter. The Irish Times recently reported that the Kerry area of Tusla the Child and Family Agency had under reported referrals of suspected physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect to An Garda Siochana. This underreporting was identified by the Kerry area manager, who shared the finding with HIQA inspectors. The inspectors...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Disability Services Provision (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Overall responsibly for disability policy still rests with my colleague, the Minister for Justice. As a result, the information requested by the Deputy is not available in my Department at present. However, the Department of Justice and Equality has provided the following information by way of response to the Deputy's Question. Part M of the Building Regulations does not, at present,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Archives (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Report of the Commission to Inquire into Child Abuse (The Ryan Report) was published on 20th May 2009. Following the publication of the Report a detailed Implementation Plan was prepared and published in July 2009. The Government committed to full implementation of all ninety nine actions in the Ryan Implementation Plan. Implementation was overseen by a High Level Group chaired by the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme has been in place since November 2019 and since that time over 62,000 awards have been generated for parents. The vast majority (around 97%) of these have been through the online process. The online application process for the NCS has been designed to be accessible, intuitive and user-friendly. The scheme also recognises that some people will have English or IT...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: Sponsorship arrangements within the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) play an important role in making additional supports available for families with complex and challenging needs that Early Learning and Care can help to address. Once a sponsored referral to the NCS has been completed and submitted on the system, it is processed and a ‘CHICK’ number is produced on the same day....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Childcare Support Act 2018 specifies 5 statutory bodies with which the Minister may make agreements in relation to referral procedures for free or additional childcare. These sponsorship arrangements within the National Childcare Scheme offer additional supports for families with complex and challenging needs that Early Learning and Care can help to address. Where there is a sponsored...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) represents the first ever statutory entitlement to childcare in Ireland, and has streamlined the multiple targeted support schemes previously available. In replacing the legacy schemes, the Scheme entails a fundamental shift away from subsidies grounded in medical card and social protection entitlements, and towards a comprehensive and progressive...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: National Childcare Scheme (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The National Childcare Scheme is the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. It establishes an equitable and progressive system of universal and income-related subsidies for children up to the age of 15. It also provides an innovative and user-friendly online application process to access those subsidies. Through all of the above, the National Childcare Scheme...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department made a comprehensive submission to the Attorney General’s Office in 2019 seeking confirmation as to whether Ireland was in a position to ratify the Second Optional Protocol to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The advice received from the AGO stated that while Ireland is largely compliant with the terms of the Protocol, there are some outstanding issues that...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (22 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department has, since 2015, administered an annual capital funding programme, under which early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) service providers are invited to apply for capital funding for new builds, to increase capacity and to maintain and improve their services. The capital strands are made available to achieve the strategic priorities as determined by my...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Services (17 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: At the outset, I must clarify that, as Minister, I cannot involve myself in individual adoption cases. As the Deputy will be aware, the Adoption Act 2010 provides that Declarations of Eligibility and Suitability to adopt are valid for 24 months, and may be extended for an additional 12 months. There is no provision in the adoption acts for a further extension. Before a new Declaration can...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (17 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The estimated cost of this measure for September 2021 to 31 December 2021 is €4.07m. €297m euro has been allocated to the Early Childhood Care and Education programme in 2020. The Early Childhood Care and Education programme runs for 38 weeks each programme year. The standard capitation rate paid to providers is €69 per child, per week, and the  higher...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Online Safety (17 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I welcome the recent publication of Cyber Safe Ireland’s fifth annual report, which provides up to date and informative data on online trends and usage among children. The report acknowledges the opportunities provided by digital technology but also highlights some of the risks and vulnerabilities faced by children and young people. It suggests that risks can be minimised by equipping...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care (16 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: At the beginning of this public health emergency, Tusla’s Chief Executive established a national crisis management team to ensure service continuity for priority service areas. Services for children in care (including foster and residential care) were identified as one of these priority areas. Local social work team continued to provide services to foster carers and children in foster...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (15 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: As Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, I greatly value the work of Family Resource Centres and the many other organisations providing services to children, families and communities across the country. I am acutely conscious of the challenges posed for service planning by the annual nature of the budgetary cycle. The management of grant funding is governed...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Social Workers Register (15 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy is referring to an operational matter for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. I have therefore referred the matter to Tusla, and asked that a direct response be provided to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (15 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: On 10 June 2020, my Department announced a €75m package of funding to facilitate the reopening of early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services. The new funding package contains a number of significant elements including a once-off reopening support payment (RSP), a once-off COVID-19 capital grant and continued access for eligible providers to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (15 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: On 10 June 2020, my Department announced a €75m package of funding to facilitate the reopening of early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services. The new funding package contains a number of significant elements including a once-off reopening support payment (RSP), a once-off COVID-19 capital grant and continued access for eligible providers to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Projects (15 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I wish to advise the Deputy that there are no Exchequer-funded projects over €1 billion overseen by my Department. The Revised Estimates for Public Services 2020, published by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, detail gross expenditure of just over €1.6 billion in respect of my Department for 2020. These Estimates will be presented to the Dáil shortly. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Years Sector (10 Sep 2020)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 143 and 144 together. The First 5 strategy sets out work across Government to improve the experiences and outcomes of children in Ireland from birth to age 5. Piloting Baby Boxes is one of many initiatives under First 5. Others include supports for parents to balance working and caring, developments in early learning and care and health initiatives. ...