Results 1,441-1,460 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I have noted many times how, historically, there has been very low levels of investment in Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare in Ireland. Over the past four budgets however, we have increased investment substantially. It has risen from €260 to €575 million. This significant increase in investment has assisted with an unprecedented doubling of capacity in the sector...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Children First Act 2015, which was fully commenced in December 2017, provides for a number of key child protection measures.  These include raising awareness of child abuse and neglect, providing for reporting and management of child protection concerns and improving child protection arrangements in organisations providing services to children. The Act places a number of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Legislative Process (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2016 has passed Second Stage in the Seanad. I am hoping that Committee Stage in the Seanad will be scheduled for June, and thereafter, I intend to proceed to enactment as quickly as possible.  As I am sure the Deputy is aware, the Bill seeks to balance the rights to identity and to privacy, which sometimes conflict with one another. Given...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Data (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The role of the City of Dublin Youth Service Board (CDYSB) is to support the provision, co-ordination, administration and assessment of youth services in their functional area and to provide such information as may be required by myself as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. As the Deputy is aware the CDYSB is a committee of the City of Dublin Education and Training Board. As such, any...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Young people in residential care have a placement plan which sets out how they will have their needs and preferences met, including family contacts, hobbies, education and health issues. Included in the plan is an individual Crisis Management Plan. This is based on an assessment of the young person’s potential behaviour during a crisis and what are the most effective ways to help...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme Expenditure (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The National Childcare Scheme is a new, national scheme of financial support to help parents with the cost of quality childcare. The development of the Scheme is a significant move forward in delivering quality, accessible, affordable childcare to families throughout Ireland. The Scheme provides a universal subsidy to all families with children under 3 years, as well as families with...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Abuse (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I understand the Deputy is referring to the number of mandatory reports in relation to sexual and other abuse  made about children living in emergency and homeless accommodation. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency respond to children who are reported to be at risk of harm. In some cases there are increased risks for children who experience homelessness.  ...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Funding (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Officials in my Department were in contact with the Deputy's office, and I understand that the question specifically relates to supports for children with special needs to take part in school-age childcare. My Department does not currently provide additional supports for children with disabilities or special needs to attend school-age childcare services. However, in First 5, the Whole of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: In the first instance it should be highlighted that the Early Childhood Care and Education programme (ECCE) is a two year pre-school programme. There is no provision for a third year which may not be in the best interests of a child, and could have the capacity to lead to breaching the statutory school starting age. Overage exemptions were introduced at the onset of the ECCE programme in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Costs (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: My Department funds a number of programmes and schemes in place to support parents and guardians with the cost of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare. These are available on a national basis through thousands of registered providers across all counties, including Wexford. They include: - The universal pre-school Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Staff (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla’s Business Plan for 2019 has identified an initial gross recruitment target of 102 Social Care Workers to cover new posts and attrition. Tusla projects that this recruitment may eventually result in an increase in Tusla’s social care workers of 57 once attrition and backfilling is taken into account. Tusla has informed me that it has a rolling campaign for social...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy is aware my Department, along with all Government Departments, was required to deliver substantial savings on all funding programmes in line with the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure 2012-2014. In recent years funding for the provision of youth services has increased on an annual basis. Between 2016 and 2019 the annual current youth funding available to my Department has...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Detention Centres (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy will be aware that under Irish Law, criminal investigations can only be carried out by An Garda Síochána who then submit a report to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP).  The DPP, who operates independently, then decides whether or not someone should be prosecuted and for what crime.  While Oberstown has procedures in place for notification of incidents to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: School Completion Programme (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I am very conscious that the School Completion Programme (SCP) continues to deliver a valuable service for some of our most vulnerable young people. Currently, the SCP receives annual funding of 24.7million. My Department works with the Educational Welfare Service (EWS) to ensure that necessary resources are available to support this programme and to ensure staffing levels are sufficient...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Provision (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Both I, and my Department, are committed to ensuring that every young person in Ireland has access to the transformational power that participating in youth services can bring, and to that end we have invested €63.6M in current and capital funding in clubs, services and young people 2019. €35.18 million of which is for the Targeted Youth Funding Scheme.  The overall...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The overall budget allocation for the youth sector in 2019 is € 60.4m in current funding.  This represents an additional €1.5m over 2018; an increase of €8.5m in the youth funding provided in 2016. The level of funding supports the delivery of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people, including those from disadvantaged communities, by the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Mother and Baby Homes Inquiries (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Commission of Investigation (Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters) was established to facilitate a purely fact finding investigation into matters of significant public concern. The Commission is due to deliver its final report in February 2020 and it is important not to pre-empt the outcome of the Commission's work. While the Commission is not structured to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I thank the Deputy for her question, which I take it is referring to the planned Barnahus/One House service for child victims of sexual abuse. As the Deputy notes the plan is that the pilot service will open this year in Galway.  A key aspect of the pilot is to establish the governance arrangements where three agencies, Tusla, the HSE and An Garda Síochána work...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Poverty (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Under the Better Outcomes, Brighter Futures National Policy Framework (2014 – 2020) my Department, in collaboration with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection and other Departments, is taking a whole-of-government approach to tackling child poverty. A considerable amount has been achieved through this cross government working and through the Better Outcomes,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Family Resource Centres (28 May 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Tusla, the Child and Family Agency administers the Family Resource Centre Programme, which supports 121 Family Resource Centres (FRCs) throughout the country. FRCs provide a holistic service of child, family and community support and advocacy to all children and families in their community. Tusla provides financial support to FRCs to fund the salaries of a certain number of staff and to cover...