Results 1,641-1,660 of 21,128 for speaker:James Reilly

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Cafés Provision (30 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The case raised by the Deputy refers to a youth café project that applied for inclusion in the 2013 Youth Café Capital Scheme. In 2013, €1.5m in capital funding was made available to my Department for a Youth Café scheme. Pobal assisted my Department with the application and evaluation process for the programme. In all 95 applications with proposals were received and...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Youth Services Funding (30 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: My Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in...

Topical Issues: Child and Family Agency (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: As the Deputy has pointed out, it is a new agency and we have to give it time to come to terms with all the challenges it has inherited. I agree with the Deputy that there is no question of anybody being allowed become complacent, as there are serious challenges ahead that must be overcome. The challenge for the agency is to bring uniformity across the system, in governance, reporting and...

Topical Issues: Child and Family Agency (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: I thank Deputy Troy for his question in regard to Tusla's child protection and welfare services and I welcome the opportunity to address the issues raised. At the outset, I welcome and support the work of the Health Information and Quality Authority in providing independent evidence on service delivery and challenges. It is essential that there is strong independent oversight of the quality...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Qualifications (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: Prior to the introduction of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in 2010, there was no minimum qualification requirement for staff working in the early years sector. Under the ECCE programme, all pre-school leaders were required to hold a Level 5 qualification. In addition, pre-school services could qualify for a higher capitation rate where all the pre-school leaders, in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: School Completion Programme (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: I propose to take Questions Nos. 147 and 148 together. The School Completion Programme aims to retain young people in the formal education system to completion of senior cycle and to improve the school attendance, participation and retention of its target cohort. It is a targeted intervention aimed at school communities identified under the Department of Education and Skills DEIS Action...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care Education (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The ECCE Programme is a free and universal programme for all children, including children with special needs. Approximately 65,000 children are participating in this Programme in the current school year. The issue of access to the free pre-school year for children with special needs was considered when the ECCE Programme was launched and a number of measures were introduced by my...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: HIQA Reports (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: I have requested information from the Child and Family Agency and I will forward the reply to the Deputy once I have been furnished with this information.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care Education (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: My Department is currently progressing the Early Years Quality Agenda with the objective of improving the quality of childcare services available to young children. As part of this process, all staff working directly with children in pre-school services will be required to hold a major award in early childhood care and education at Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ),...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Children Services Committees (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: There are 31 City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) presently established to advance the provision of childcare facilities in their local areas. The Committees comprise local representatives from the statutory, community and voluntary sectors, childcare providers and parents. The CCCs offer a wide variety of services locally including: advice on setting up a childcare business;...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Care Services Expenditure (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: More than €260 million is invested annually by the Government in childcare sevices with the greater proportion of this funding going to support the childcare support programmes – the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, and the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes, which are implemented by my...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child Poverty (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The Area Based Childhood (ABC) Programme (2013-2016) is an innovative prevention and early intervention initiative consisting of committed funding for an area-based approach to helping to improve outcomes for children and thereby impacting on child poverty. The programme builds on and continues the work of the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP) 2007-2013 which was co-funded...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Expenditure (25 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: I have been informed by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, that its total expenditure for 2014 was €627m. In accordance with the establishing legislation for the Agency I will be laying the full 2014 accounts of the Agency before both Houses of the Oireachtas over the coming weeks.

Children (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Referral to Select Committee (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Children and Youth Affairs pursuant to Standing Order 82A(3)(a) and 126(1).

Children (Amendment) Bill 2015 [Seanad]: Second Stage (Resumed) (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: It will not be possible for me to answer all the questions raised in the short time remaining and to do justice to those who have raised issues. We can finish the Bill tomorrow. I thank the Members for their contributions. This Bill underpins significant initiatives and reforms that have taken place in recent years. It also has regard to the principle of equality of treatment between...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency Funding (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The information sought by the Deputy has been requested from the Child and Family Agency and I will respond directly to the Deputy when the information is received.

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Inter-Country Adoptions (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The Adoption Act, 2010, provides for adoptions from countries that have ratified the Hague Convention on Adoption and from countries where there is a bilateral agreement in place. Currently, adoptions are taking place with countries that have ratified the Convention. The Russian Federation has not ratified the Convention and therefore a bilateral agreement is necessary. Efforts have been...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Departmental Records (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The ICT infrastructure for my Department is provided and maintained on a shared service basis by the Department of Health which uses industry standard email security devices to assess potential threats in incoming and outgoing mail. A small number of blacklisted spam addresses, confirmed as nuisance or potentially dangerous, are (without notification) not accepted or routed to intended...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Early Childhood Care Education (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: Prior to the introduction of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in 2010, there was no minimum qualification requirement for staff working in the early years sector. Under the ECCE programme, all pre-school leaders were required to hold a Level 5 qualification. In addition, pre-school services could qualify for a higher capitation rate where all the pre-school leaders, in...

Written Answers — Department of Children and Youth Affairs: Child and Family Agency (24 Jun 2015)

James Reilly: The information sought by the Deputy has been requested from the Child and Family Agency and I will respond directly to the Deputy when the information is received.