Results 14,601-14,620 of 16,537 for speaker:Brian Lenihan Jnr

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am prepared to revisit this issue. There are sections in the 1991 legislation which use the same formula as this legislation, where a person having custody or acting in loco parentis for the child is the person who is put on notice. That, however, is in the context of interim and emergency applications. I am not prepared to stand over this section and I see merit in the points that have...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We should be aware of a circumstance where a child is abandoned and taken into foster care. There are circumstances where it is impracticable in any context to contact the original parent. I will examine the issue and come back to Senators about it.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I understand the spirit of the amendment because it makes sense but it is not addressed in a practical way. Each foster child has a care plan and that continues in force after the order is made. The issue raised by the Senator is, therefore, addressed through the care plan, which ensures a level of contact between the foster parents and the social workers. If I accepted the amendment this...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Senators are making my argument as to the reason I settled on the period of five years in the first instance, namely, that parents are being extended trust and there was a demonstrated capacity to make decisions. People think of the annual visit to Torremolinos but there is no more important decision than a medical decision and it takes time for a parent to demonstrate a capacity to make that...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Section 37 of the Child Care Act 1991 relates to access to children in care. It provides that where a child is in the care of the Health Service Executive, either under a care order or otherwise, the executive will facilitate reasonable access to the child by the parents, any person acting in loco parentis or any person with a bona fide interest. It provides that a person who is dissatisfied...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I am not being kind to the Senator because I cannot find an amendment in his name which I am prepared to accept. The insertion of the expression "or otherwise" would not be appropriate because the Bill makes a fundamental distinction between the conditions which apply to the granting of an order under this section in respect of a child in voluntary care and a child in care under a care order....

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As I understand the position, the case the Senator outlines would be a private arrangement which stands outside the care system. This system relates to two categories, namely, persons taken into care or persons surrendered into care. The circumstances described by the Senator relate to a third category, one on which he touched in his Second Stage contribution. While there is a third category...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: While I accept the Senator's point, special consideration would not be given to a pre-existing period of voluntary custody in the event that a child became problematical. The reason is that if the child has become difficult, the State must measure the parent's capacity against the period of time the parent parented a difficult child. Therefore, we stick to the five-year period.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: Senator Browne has raised an interesting question. It is normal in legislation not to address this issue. Whether a person is missing is a matter for the courts, not for primary legislation. If the proceedings are served on the relevant parties and they are missing, they will not show up at the court. We must give some guidance to the courts because it is a fact that quite a few foster...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I have already undertaken to address the issue of the parties who should be served with notice of the application. I note the wording relating to the discharge of the order follows the wording in the application. The amendment refers to persons who have a bona fide interest in the child's welfare. That is a vague formulation. I will take it into account in my review but I prefer to be more...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I should have dealt with that. Senator Browne raised it earlier and I would like to address it now. The amendments are very complex and they relate to the whole question under consideration. The Ferns amendments relate to two particular recommendations in the Ferns Report about which much work has been done by my own office and that of the Attorney General. The first recommendation deals with...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I appreciate the point but the Senator must appreciate that in the last year of the current Dáil, the Seanad will have considerably more time to consider this Bill than the Dáil. I understand the Seanad has 90 days to consider it. I am anxious to get on with this and I will give the Seanad ample time to consider the Bill. I do not consider the revising function of this House to be a rubber...

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I hope the Senator is not throwing in the towel on the next general election.

Seanad: Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2006: Committee Stage (2 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: We have plenty time available to deal with this Bill.

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (1 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I welcome the OECD's recent report on Early Childhood Education and Care "Starting Strong II". I believe the Report's findings show a strong convergence between OECD and Irish Government policy for Early Childhood Education and Care. The OECD notes that policy in this area should not be elaborated from outside but should be based on consensus-building within the country as each OECD member...

Written Answers — Residential Institutions Redress Scheme: Residential Institutions Redress Scheme (1 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As the Deputy may be aware in 2002, the then Minister for Education and Science introduced the Residential Institutions Redress Act. This legislation was enacted to provide a mechanism for former residents of industrial schools, reformatories, orphanages, children's homes and in certain situations special schools and hospitals to obtain redress for injuries they suffered while so resident....

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (1 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Equal Opportunities Child Care Programme 2000-2006, EOCP, which had a budget of €499 million, including support from the EU structural funds, will effectively come to an end in the latter part of 2007. The successor programme to the EOCP, the National Child care Investment Programme (NCIP) runs from 2006 to 2010. The total budget for the new Programme is approximately €575 million,...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (1 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: The Government has brought in a number of measures, both on the supply side and the demand side, to deal with the growing demand for child care, which has been created by the economic and social changes which have taken place over the last decade. These measures are aimed at supporting parents with the cost of child care and increasing the supply of quality child care places available to...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (1 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: As the Deputy is aware, I have responsibility for the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP), which are being implemented by the newly established Office of the Minister for Children. The Group in question was approved Capital funding under the EOCP of €710,681 in December 2004 and the Group has submitted an...

Written Answers — Foster Care: Foster Care (1 Nov 2006)

Brian Lenihan Jnr: I propose to take Questions Nos. 391, 393, 394 and 397 together. The Deputy's question relates to the management and delivery of health and personal social services, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive under the Health Act 2004. Accordingly, my Department has requested the parliamentary affairs division of the executive to arrange to have this matter investigated and...