Results 1,621-1,640 of 7,359 for speaker:Katherine Zappone

Saincheisteanna Tráthúla - Topical Issue Debate: Childcare Services (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I appreciate the Deputy's response. As he knows, we always prepare a script, which is what I have shared with the House. Going beyond it, I am aware of the issues. The Deputy will appreciate that I fully understand the community not-for-profit childcare sector and its challenges, having set up a number of such services myself. Those involved the sector would not want to do anything that,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: State Bodies Data (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The number and percentage of women on each State board under the remit of my Department on 8 March 2016 and 8 March 2019 is set out in the following table. No. of Women March 8th 2016 % No. of women March 8th 2019 % Adoption Authority Ireland 4 57% 4 57% Oberstown  4 36% 6 46% Gaisce 5 55% 7 50% Tusla 4 44% 4 44% I am pleased to advise the Deputy that the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) overage exemptions were introduced at the onset of the ECCE programme in 2010.  At that time ECCE operated for a 38 week period, or one programme year.  For some children with special/additional needs, attending preschool five days a week was not feasible and therefore an allowance was made. Their ECCE place was split over two years, e.g. a...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Illegal Adoptions (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I had expected that the final report of the review of a sample of adoption records being overseen by the Independent Reviewer Marion Reynolds would be submitted to me by Easter. I have just received a third interim report from Ms. Reynolds dated 1 April informing me that this will now be delayed to end May.  I understand that the reason for the delay is that the fieldwork being carried...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Foster Care (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 312 and 313 together. Any decision by a Tusla social work team to place a child outside the State must be approved by the Agency's Chief Operations Officer. In addition to this, each child placed out of state has a care order in place in Ireland and as such consent must also be provided by the District Court and in some instances the High Court, depending...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Education and Training Boards Staff (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Deputy may wish to be aware that the City of Dublin Youth Services Board (CDYSB) is a statutory sub-committee of City of Dublin Education and Training Board which comes under the remit of the Department of Education and Skills.  Consequently, this matter is more appropriate to my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Data (4 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Local Youth Club Grant Scheme (LYCGS) supports youth work activities at a local level.  In 2019, my Department provided an additional 12% in overall funding for this scheme, bringing the total allocation to over €2m.  The increased funding will provide small volunteer-led youth clubs with greater capacity to reach more young people during 2019. The allocation for 2019...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Data (3 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: As the Deputy's question refers to operational matters, it has been referred to both Tusla and the Adoption Authority for direct reply. Each agency will respond individually to the Deputy. 

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Adoption Data (3 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: This data is not collected. The Deputy may be interested to know that a range of other data in relation to adoption in Ireland is available in the Annual Reports of the Adoption Authority of Ireland, which are available on its website. 

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Commissions of Investigation Expenditure (3 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Commission of Investigation into Mother and Baby Homes and certain related Matters was established by Government on 17th February 2015 (S.I. No. 57 of 2015). In establishing the Commission, the Government noted that the investigation and associated additional demands on the Department of Children and Youth Affairs were estimated to cost, to completion, were in the order of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Assisting families to access high quality, affordable early learning and care and school age childcare is a priority for me as Minister and hence I take the issues raised in the letter very seriously. My officials have responded separately to the childcare forum which wrote the letter referred to in the Deputy's question.  My Department funds a number of early learning and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Qualifications (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) introduced regulations governing the Early Years sector in June of 2016 which included a new minimum qualifications standard for the sector. Since the 31st December 2016, all employees of a pre-school service who work directly with children must hold a full, major award in Early Childhood Care and Education at a minimum of Level 5 on the...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Protection (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Early Intervention teams are under the remit of the Health Service Executive (HSE) therefore I am not in a position to comment on any decision made by this team. Notwithstanding this, national policy, based on the principle in the best interests of the child, is that children should be in primary education by the age of six. Primarily legislation relating to this is primarily a matter for...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Preschool Services (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I understand that the programme referred to by the Deputy is the current round of capital funding currently being run by Pobal on behalf of my Department. Significant efforts were made this year to improve the timeline for delivery of the Early Years and School Age Childcare capital programmes and the appraisal process for applications is currently underway in Pobal. I would like to...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Properties (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: It is unclear from the Deputy's question as to what offices in Ballymun are involved but, as this is an operational matter, I have requested Tusla, the Child and Family Agency to respond directly to the Deputy on this matter.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Domestic Violence Refuges Provision (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: In August 2017, Tusla had to temporarily suspend services at the refuge to which the Deputy refers, due to concerns about electrical installations at the facility. An upgrade of the building has been completed.  Plans are in progress to reopen the service in Quarter 2 of this year. I can assure the Deputy that it will reopen as a domestic violence refuge. The newly upgraded...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Childcare Services Regulation (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: I propose to take Questions Nos. 481 and 483 together. Assisting families to access high quality, affordable early learning and care and school age childcare is a priority for me as Minister and hence I take all questions and concerns raised by services very seriously. My Department funds a number of early learning and care and school age childcare programmes. Given the large amount of...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Affordable Childcare Scheme (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: The National Childcare Scheme is a new, national scheme of financial support to help parents with the cost of quality childcare. It will ultimately replace all previous targeted childcare programmes with a single, streamlined and user-friendly scheme, providing both universal and targeted childcare subsidies. The development of this scheme is a significant move forward in delivering quality,...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: In December 2017, I announced my decision to pause the proposed rule changes on overage exemptions in the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) pre-school programme to allow for a consultation process where the voice of parents of children with disabilities could be heard in relation to the proposed change. This consultation process, which was conducted by the National...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care and Education (2 Apr 2019)

Katherine Zappone: Officials from my Department have sought more information from the Deputy's office about the child in question in order to address the specific concern raised.  Since September 2018, the duration of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is two full programme years. In order to be eligible for the ECCE programme in September, a child must have turned 2 years 8 months...