Results 141-160 of 19,404 for speaker:Norma Foley

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Ukraine War (1 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 have 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...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Funding (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding to the sector. Core funding increased by 11% to reach €287 million for the second year of the scheme (September 2023 to August 2024) and by a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 655, 656, 657, 659, 660, 663 and 664 together. 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: International Protection (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you for your question, Deputy. Planning regulations, whatever their purpose, are the responsibility of the Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage. For background information that may be of use to the Deputy, my Department's International Protection and Integration Division is responsible for sourcing and providing accommodation for people applying for International...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 661 and 662 together. Since 2024, the International Protection Accommodation Service (IPAS) has not published details of the specific locations of our accommodation centres. This is due to both safety and security concerns, and to protect the privacy of international protection applicants in line with my and my officials' duties under the International...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Childcare Services (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: There are 30 City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) located nationwide, which are funded by my Department. The core operational funding allocation for City/County Childcare Committees for 2022, 2023 and 2024 is set out in the table below. In addition to core operational funding, CCCs were provided with funding to support the delivery of a number of specific programmes and initiatives on a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you for your question, Deputy. Ireland currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people applying for international protection and has also welcomed over 114,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. Our accommodation systems for both groups have been forced to expand at a rapid pace over the last two years in response to a sharp increase in need among both groups. As such, the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: International Protection (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Thank you for your question, Deputy. Ireland currently provides accommodation to approximately 33,000 people applying for international protection and has also welcomed over 114,000 people from Ukraine since 2022. Our accommodation systems have been forced to expand at a rapid pace over the last two years in response to a sharp increase in need among both groups. The over 114,000...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Care Services (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: As this relates to information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been forwarded to the Agency for direct reply to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Middle East (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I regret that as my Department has responsibility for accommodation and reception conditions for people who have applied international protection applicants and beneficiaries of temporary protection (BOTP) fleeing the war in Ukraine, we do not have details to assist or make a statement in relation to this case. This question may be more appropriately addressed to my colleague, the...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Citizens' Assembly (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Citizens Assembly on Gender Equality and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Gender Equality both made a series of recommendations to improve the lives of women and girls living in Ireland today. As Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth my Department leads and co-ordinates the work in the area of gender equality. The previous National Strategy for Women and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Irish Sign Language (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth is committed to improving accessibility in all its communications. Between 1 January 2024 and 31 December 2024, the Department has continued efforts to ensure social media video content is accessible to the widest possible audience. Please find the required information in the below table: Platform ...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Child and Family Agency (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Tusla has informed my Department that the primary service it makes available to care leavers over the age of 26 is the Aftercare Drop-In service. There is no age limit on this service. The Aftercare Drop-In service provides a point of contact for young adults who have been in the care of Tusla, and can provide guidance, support and signposting for those young people who require a referral...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Programme for Government outlines the commitment to ‘undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system with State-led facilities adding capacity’. It goes on to state, ‘This plan will enhance parental choice through ongoing support for public, private and...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The pathway to developing the early learning and childcare sector was set out in Partnership for the Public Good, the report of the Expert Group that was agreed by Government in 2021. The key theme of that report was the need to strengthen State involvement in the sector through greater levels of public management accompanied by greater levels of public funding. Since that report was...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: I propose to take Questions Nos. 678, 679 and 681 together. Considerable reform has been implemented in the early learning and childcare sector in recent years through increased public management and public funding. The framework for reform of the sector is set out in Partnership for the Public Good, the 2021 report of an Expert Group which was established to develop a new funding model for...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The Programme for Government commits to publishing "a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system with State-led facilities adding capacity. This plan will enhance parental choice through ongoing support for public, private and community provision, as well as childminders'. It further states that 'Childminding plays a...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Schemes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: Investment in early learning and childcare is now at unprecedented levels with public funding exceeding €1.37 billion in 2025, clearly demonstrating Government commitment to this area. As well as addressing affordability this investment has served to improve accessibility, availability and the quality of provision. A number of existing Schemes contribute to the goal of reducing...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: As mentioned by the Deputy, the Programme for Government commits to exploring options to cap costs for larger families. The Government of Ireland is committed to continuing to improve affordability and reach the €200 per month cap within the lifetime of the Government. However, further progress on affordability cannot be made in isolation and must be integrated with our efforts to...

Written Answers — Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth: Departmental Programmes (1 Apr 2025)

Norma Foley: The new Programme for Government, which was published on 15 January 2025, commits to review and increase Core Funding, ensure that providers’ fees are open, transparent and equitable and readily available to parents, and to maintaining the fee cap. Fee management under Core Funding has been an incremental and deliberate process to date. Since the launch of the scheme in September...