Results 1,381-1,400 of 20,818 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 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: Employment Support Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I recognise the enormous impact that pregnancy loss has on expectant parents, and I wish to extend my sympathies to all parents who have suffered such a loss. The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth commissioned a qualitative research study to examine the workplace experiences of parents coping with pregnancy loss. The study, ‘PLACES | Pregnancy Loss...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Social Welfare Payments (29 Apr 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). I recently made an order to extend the scheme for a further year to March 2026 to mirror the extension of the Temporary Protection Directive. This extension provides certainty to Ukrainian...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Mother and Baby Homes (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme provides payments and health benefits to people who spent time in any of the Mother and Baby or County Home Institutions that were identified by the Mother and Baby Homes Commission of Investigation as having a main function of providing sheltered and supervised ante and post-natal facilities to single mothers and their children. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. As the State is not the employer of staff in the sector, neither I nor my Department can set wage levels or determine working conditions. There is however a formal mechanism established, in the independent Early Years Services Joint Labour Committee, where employer and employee...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Refugee Resettlement Programme (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The number of people fleeing the war in Ukraine who are Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BoTP) and number of people applying for international protection (IP) by local electoral area is set out in the table below. This data refers to accommodation supported or provided by this Department. While it is useful to review information published by the State on how many people are in...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Emergency Accommodation (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Ireland currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people applying for international protection, over 9,000 of whom are children with their families. The State has a legal obligation to assess the claims of those who seek international protection, and in that time, to provide accommodation and supports in line with the Recast Reception Conditions Directive (transposed under SI...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Legislative Measures (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Employment Equality Acts 1998-2024 prohibit discrimination in the workplace across nine protected grounds. Disability is one of the protected grounds under the Acts. Discrimination on the ‘disability ground’ occurs where there is less favourable treatment of one person compared to another person because one has a disability and the other has not, or the other has a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: School Facilities (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 1809 and 1810 together. Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government. Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2023/24 shows that the estimated number of enrolments increased by 10% from the 2022/23 programme year. Core...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Youth Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: UBU Your Place Your Space scheme (UBU) is DCEDIY's largest youth funding scheme, targeting disadvantaged young people aged between 10-24. The scheme currently provides funding to over 250 targeted youth services across 16 Education and Training Boards (ETBs), with the ETBs co-ordinating delivery of funding to the services in their local area. Budget 2025 secured an allocation of...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Family Resource Centres (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I am pleased to inform the Deputy that in the coming days Tusla, the Child and Family Agency will announce the launch of the application process for groups/organisations that wish to join the Family Resource Centre Programme. Membership of the Programme will increase from 121 members to 126 members in 2025, in line with a Government commitment to expand the Programme. I very much welcome this...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Emergency Accommodation (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, my Department continues to work as part of the whole-of-Government response with a focus on providing access to emergency temporary accommodation to those fleeing the conflict who request it, in line with Government policy. This supports Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) to make longer term independent arrangements...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Climate Change Policy (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Government is committed to achieving a 51% reduction in Ireland’s overall emissions from 2021 to 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions no later than 2050. The Public Sector Climate Action Mandate outlines that Departments and public bodies must lead by example in implementing climate-related goals. As part of the Mandate, my Department is required to publish our targets and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The State is currently accommodating over 33,000 people in over 320 IPAS centres around the country, about 9,000 of whom are children with their families. The safety and wellbeing of all residents and staff in our accommodation centres is our priority and we have guidelines in place for IPAS staff and Department officials in relation to responding quickly to any critical incidents, taking...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth provide the following supports within these areas; ‘Early Years’ Units ECCE The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free two year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. A child must have reached 2 years and 8 months of age on or prior to 31...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Our Department has a duty to provide accommodation for people who are in the international protection application process and are therefore 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. Despite this growth in our...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Disability Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Although the most recent Annual Early Years Sector Profile data 2002/23 shows that 291 out of 3,996 of early learning and care and school-age childcare services had an annual staff turnover rate of 80% or more, this represents 7% of all services. The national average staff turnover rate for 2022/23 was 24.5% down 0.2% on the 2021/22 turnover rate of 24.7%. The data shows that 29% of the 24.5%...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Core Funding is a grant to providers designed to support quality, sustainability, and enhanced public management, with associated conditions in relation to fee control and cost transparency, incorporating funding for administration and to support the employment of graduate staff. The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Detention Centres (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Oberstown Children Detention Campus (Oberstown) is the State’s sole detention centre for children. The maximum occupancy in Oberstown is set by the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality by way of a certificate made under the Children Act 2001. This is currently set at 46 (40 boys and 6 girls). This includes children on detention orders and also children who have been remanded...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (29 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Many families avail of the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) as a way to reduce the cost of their early learning and childcare. The Scheme is designed to be flexible in acknowledgement that childcare needs differ widely across these families. For this reason, NCS subsidies are awarded as an hourly rate, along with a maximum number of weekly hours that the subsidy will be paid for. ...