Results 15,161-15,180 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childhood Obesity (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: Overweight and obesity are a public health priority, the primary remit for which lies with the Minister for Health who has established a Special Action Group on Obesity whom he meets with regularly to progress the obesity prevention agenda. The Special Action Group on Obesity is chaired by the Department of Health and comprises key stake-holders, including the Department of Children and Youth...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: The commitment to improve the quality of early childhood care and education has been a key priority for me since becoming Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. This is why my Department and I have been progressing work on Ireland's first-ever Early Years Strategy for children aged from birth to six years. In addition, my Department has been actively driving a comprehensivePre-School...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Programme for Government commits to developing early childhood care and education as resources allow, and the Government has made a very significant commitment to maintaining the childcare support programmes implemented by my Department - the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, the Childcare Education and Training...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Legislation (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 15 and 165 together. The Adoption Act, 2010, which entered into force on 1 November 2010, gives force of law to the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption. The Act was written against the backdrop of the of the Hague Convention and a commitment to improving standards outlined in the Convention. The...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Legislation (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Adoption Act of 1952, as subsequently amended, provided a legal basis for adoption in Ireland and for the establishment of the Adoption Board thereby bringing order to what had been the adhoc arrangements which had previously existed in lieu of formal adoption procedures. That Act was replaced most recently by the Adoption Act 2010 which also established the Adoption Authority of Ireland....

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Reports (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 17, 18 and 36 together. The commitment to improve the quality of early childhood care and education has been a key priority for me since becoming Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. I have outlined to the Dail on several occasions, and to the Joint Oireachtas Committee, eight key areas of action which I believe need to be considered and addressed as a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: When a child cannot live with his or her parents either on a short or long-term basis, the HSE will, in the first instance, seek a suitable relative or person known to the child to provide relative care. Where there is no relative or person known to the child to provide relative care, the HSE where possible, will place a child in foster care. For young people that are unable to live at home...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Reports (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: A very significant reform programme is underway in the pre-school inspection service. This involves the introduction of new national standards against which all services will be inspected. This will bring about greater consistency and transparency in the inspection process. All new reports completed by inspectors are now being published on-line, providing open access to the public to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Proposed Legislation (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: My legislative priorities for this Dáil session are to introduce the Children First Bill and the Children (Amendment) Bill and to progress the Child and Family Agency Bill through the Houses. The Government approved the drafting of the Children First Bill on 24th July 2013. The draft General Scheme and Heads of Bill had previously been considered by the Oireachtas Committee on Health...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: The HSE compiles monthly performance reports which include statistics in relation to children in care. These reports are published on the HSE website. The latest published report shows that in May 2013 there were 6,441 children in care, of which 4,065 (63.1%) were in general foster care and 1880 (29.2%) in care with relatives. The most recent statistics available on the duration of care...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Proposed Legislation (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Deputy will be aware that I published the Draft Heads and General Scheme for the Children First Bill 2012 in April 2012 and immediately referred the Heads of Bill to the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children for consideration and advice. The Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children published their report in July 2012. A number of submissions were received as part of the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Qualifications (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: It is my intention to introduce new qualification requirements for the pre-school childcare sector starting in September 2014. This will be an important new development as, at present, staff working in childcare services other than under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, are not subject to any requirement in respect of qualifications. The ECCE programme introduced...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Expenditure (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: Expenditure, funding requirements and how resources should be prioritised and allocated across each area of Government spending are generally considered as part of the the annual estimates cycle and budgetary process. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that it would be inappropriate for me to comment at this time on any future decisions that may be taken by Government in the context of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Agencies Issues (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: Formal appointments to the Board of the Family Support Agency will be confirmed in the immediate future. Pending the establishment of the Child and Family Agency, the existing statutory functions of the Board of the Family Support Agency will remain in place and require to be discharged. The Family Support Agency Board will also be asked to provide, on an administrative basis, oversight of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children in Care (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: The HSE compiles monthly performance reports which include statistics in relation to children in care. These reports are published on the HSE website. The latest published report shows that there were 6,441 children in the care of the HSE in May 2013, of which 5,859 children had an allocated social worker, while 582 children did not have an allocated social worker. Unallocated cases are...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Detention Centres (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: There are currently 3 children detention schools in the State: Trinity House, Oberstown Boys and Oberstown Girls schools. All are located on the same campus at Oberstown, near Lusk, Co. Dublin. These schools currently accommodate girls under 18 years of age on admission and boys under 17 years on admission whose detention is ordered by the Courts on remand or on conviction for criminal...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Inspections (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: Since the broadcast of the Prime Time programme my Department has received a large volume of correspondence and submissions in relation to the events outlined in the programme. My officials are examining the wide range of proposals and suggestions made and these are being considered as part of a comprehensive response to the events highlighted in the programme. In relation to the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Inspections (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy with the most up-to-date information.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Refuges (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 32 and 34 together. At the outset, I would emphasise that the two matters raised by the Deputy, domestic violence and corporal punishment, are discrete issues. Responsibility for the prevention of domestic violence rests with the Department of Justice and Equality. In so far as the HSE provides domestic violence services to victims, responsibility...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Provision (19 Sep 2013)

Frances Fitzgerald: As the Deputy is aware, the Ombudsman for Children is an independent officer of the State and accounts for her statutory functions to the Oireachtas. As Minister, I have certain functions and responsibilities for the Ombudsman for Children's Office under the Ombudsman for Children Act, 2002. This primarily relates to governance matters, most notably the funding of the Ombudsman for...