Results 1,501-1,520 of 11,855 for speaker:Roderic O'Gorman

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Last month, the Government agreed that Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection in state-provided serviced accommodation should receive the same level of payment regardless of when they arrived. The Minister for Social Protection and I, and our officials are liaising on the operational arrangements to give effect to this change, with an estimated 12 week lead-in time to allow details to be...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Traveller Accommodation (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I propose to take Questions Nos. 108 and 115 together. Work on developing the successor National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy (NTRIS II) is currently being finalised and my intention is to submit it to Cabinet shortly. The successor Strategy will represent the next step in a whole-of-Government and targeted approach to improving the lives of Travellers and Roma and to ensure...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: 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 BOTPs to make longer term independent arrangements if they decide to remain in Ireland. As...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Last month, the Government agreed that Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection in state-provided serviced accommodation should receive the same level of payment regardless of when they arrived. The Minister for Social Protection and I, and our officials are liaising on the operational arrangements to give effect to this change, with an estimated 12 week lead-in time to allow details to be...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: School Funding (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Capital funding has been allocated to the early learning and childcare sector under the revised National Development Plan (NDP). This will enable significant investment in early learning and childcare. In 2024 and 2025, my Department is delivering capital investment through the Building Blocks Capacity Grant. The primary focus of the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Schemes is to increase...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Early Childhood Care and Education (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The ECCE scheme is a universal programme which provides 2 years of free preschool to children in the eligible age range of 2 years and 8 months to 5 years and 6 months. My Department funds private early learning and care service providers to provide the ECCE programme at a standard rate of €69 per week per child attending the ECCE programme. I would note that further funding is...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Children in Care (19 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: As this relates to data collated by Tusla, the question has been forwarded to Tusla for direct reply to the Deputy.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. From his engagement and that of other Deputies from Cork I am well aware of the issues facing Northside Community Enterprise and of the funding that is required to support the reopening of the Before 5 Family Centre in Churchfield. The centre is in an area of undersupply and of high need for childcare places. The ambition of Northside Community...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I do not accept the Deputy's assertion that it is moving at a snail's pace. We are looking to create a new funding stream that will deal with situations like this where there is an existing service that is using a building that is no longer fit for purpose and requires significant capital support. That requires my Department to engage with the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: When I was in Cork I sought the meeting with Northside Community Enterprise in order to be able to discuss the need for particular support to get this service reopened. I was able to see the amazing work it has done in other services and understand the particular ethos behind the organisation as a community organisation. This is something we in the Department want to support. I outlined...

International Protection, Asylum and Migration: Motion (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Acting Chair. I welcome the proposal by the Minister for Justice, and I and my Department look forward to working with her and across Government on its implementation. Ireland, like many other European countries, is experiencing a significant increase in the number of people seeking international protection. The arrival numbers remain significantly elevated. Up to mid-June...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Right now, where a service is not involved in the core funding model my Department does not have a mechanism to influence how much it charges. If the service is in the NCS the Department provides a significant subsidy to parents, which is growing this year - and very significantly in September - and which will lessen the costs. However, right now the Department does not have a mechanism if...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Foster care is the preferred method of care for children in care who cannot live with their families of origin. As we know, foster care provides a safe, secure and stable home environment for some of our most vulnerable children. Tusla's assessment of any foster carer must consider the foster carer's expected availability to meet and support the needs of the child who has come into his or...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for keeping the spotlight on this issue because it is so important that we support foster carers. I have met IFCA and Movement for Change in Foster Care and other organisations representing foster carers regularly. In particular, I met them after, not the 2024 budget but the 2023 budget, and I said I would work with them to deal with the allowance which was a key issue...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Children in Care (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: When I met IFCA and Movement for Change in Foster Care we spoke about five broad areas where they felt the State needed to be doing more. These were allowances - which the Deputy has discussed already; travel expenses - which I am working on with Tusla; and additional concrete supports particularly in terms of therapies and we now have therapist groups available to foster carers from which...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. Core funding has been in operation since 15 September 2022 and has achieved significant successes in terms of the high level of participation we are seeing. Right now, 4,632 services nationwide are eligible to partake in the core funding scheme. Of those, 4,369 are partner services, meaning 267 services have not signed up to core funding. We...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Childcare Services (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: There were a couple of questions there. We have some information about black spots, mainly through the city and county childcare committees. We have just set up a new unit in our Department, a bit like the forward planning unit in the Department of Education, very much designed around a better understanding of where pressure spots are, and we are feeding that information into local...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy knows, on 27 March 2024, the Government agreed a new comprehensive accommodation strategy, CAS, for international protection applicants. This has a twofold aim. The immediate aim is to deal with the situation where we are not able to offer accommodation to everybody right now, and a significant number of people were sleeping rough on our streets. The secondary aim, as the...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I agree with much of what the Deputy said. We have to remember we are rebuilding our international protection system in real time. For years we were not getting anywhere close to the European average for international protection applicants. Since 2022 we have been getting the average, but our system was not built for those numbers. We are having to rebuild the processing system. The...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: International Protection (18 Jun 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The comprehensive accommodation strategy is to run until 2028. The vision set out in my answer of 13,000 beds and the various elements is something we wish to achieve by 2028. We have already taken significant steps in the use of State land. That has been a huge change. There is the site at Crooksling, County Dublin, and at Trudder, County Wicklow, where we are now accommodating a...