Results 121-140 of 20,818 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Child and Family Agency (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: I wish to inform the Deputy that my officials have asked Tusla to respond directly to you on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Child and Family Agency (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: I wish to inform the Deputy that my officials have asked Tusla to respond directly to you on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: Foster carers play a vital and valued role in the care of the most vulnerable children in our society. Foster care is the preferred option for children who cannot live with their family of origin, and foster carers provide a safe, secure and stable home environment for these vulnerable children and young people. The Programme for Government 2025 (PfG) sets out the Government’s...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: The Department is aware that some service providers have regrettably chosen to withdraw from Core Funding. In the interest of clarity, transparency and consistent reporting, I have defined a service that left Core Funding as any service that had a gap between contracts for Core Funding of 4 or more weeks. There are a number of reasons that a service might fall into this definition, for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Family Resource Centres (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: I wish to inform the Deputy that the Department was not involved in the assessment process. A comprehensive national application and assessment process was undertaken, which was led by Tusla and independently chaired by a representative of the University of Limerick. All applications were reviewed and scored against the clearly defined and published criteria. This process was outlined in the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: An application was received from Glor na nOg under the Community Extension strand of the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme. The service was successful in its progression to next stage, which involves the completion of a legal framework, and includes the signing of a Grant Agreement. While the Department can appreciate the service is anxious to commence projects works, it is a condition...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial support to help parents reduce the cost of early learning and childcare. Subsidies are available for children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years of age. The minimum rate available is €2.14 per hour, which is available for up to 45 weekly hours. The total number of recipients of the National Childcare Subsidy to date in 2025...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 784 to 788, inclusive, together. The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial support to help parents reduce the cost of early learning and childcare. Subsidies are available for children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years of age. The minimum rate available is €2.14 per hour, which is available for up to 45 weekly hours. The total cost...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: There are two types of subsidies available under the NCS.A universal subsidy which is available to all families with children under 15 years old. This subsidy is not means tested and provides €2.14 per hour towards the cost of a registered childcare place for a maximum of 45 hours per week.Income Assessed Subsidies are available to families with children aged between 24 weeks and 15...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Disability Services (30 Sep 2025)

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

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Health Services Staff (30 Sep 2025)

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

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Departmental Bodies (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: Ms. Patricia Carey was appointed to the role of Special Advocate for Survivors of Institutional Abuse in March 2024. Operating independently of the Minister and the Department, her primary role is to amplify the voices of survivors as a central, essential input to Government deliberations on matters which affect them and to promote the collective interests of survivors. Strategic...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: The calculation of a services Core Funding grant contains multiple elements – the Base Rate, Graduate Premiums, Targeted Measures and the new Staff Funding Additional Contribution. The base rate, which is the majority of the allocation, provides funding on the basis of a services staffed capacity. It is calculated as the number of places offered multiplied by the hours for which...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: As of 2 September 2024, the minimum rate for the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) increased from €1.40 to €2.14. The increase was introduced as part of Budget 2024 measures and means that parents now receive a higher subsidy rate towards their childcare fees. With this new rate, the maximum level of hourly support according to age for the lowest level of income is detailed...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal free two-year programme available to all children within the eligible age range. A child must have turned 2 years and 8 months on or before 31st August in the programme year and not turn 5 years and 6 months on or before June 30th the following year, to be eligible for the ECCE programme. The ECCE Programme is provided...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Early Childhood Care and Education (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: The Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with additional needs can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Since its introduction in 2016, AIM has had a major impact on the lives of children with additional needs and the overall quality of early learning and care. Through this period over 38,000 children have...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Childcare Services (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: Work is well advanced on the Programme for Government commitment to develop an Action Plan for Administrative and Regulatory Simplification for the Early Learning and Childcare Sector, supported by a Working Group comprising representatives from the Department, Pobal and the City / County Childcare Committees and an Advisory Group comprising providers, educators/practitioners and parent...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Health Service Executive (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: A key objective of this Department and the system as a whole, is to ensure that public monies and used as effectively and efficiently as possible. This also means that funding is provided to those with the highest level of need. Means testing supports the targeted allocation of funding along this principle. It also ensures that the scheme remains in line with other related Department of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Child and Family Agency (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you Deputy for your question. As this is an operational issue for Tusla, I have asked Tusla to collate the information requested, and to respond directly to you on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Disability and Equality: Child and Family Agency (30 Sep 2025)

Norma Foley: Please find below, a table outlining the number of Whole Time Equivalent (WTE) Social Workers employed by Tusla as of end-December 2019 to 2024, and as at end-June 2025: WTE 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 (end-June) Social Workers 1,533 1,669 1,669 1,612 1,612 1,679 ...