Results 17,081-17,100 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (24 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Family Support Agency (FSA) was established by way of primary legislation in 2001. The FSA became an agency of my Department in 2011. In the last three yeas, the approved level of funding for the FSA was as follows:- 2011 - €28.455m 2010 - €30.949m 2009 - €35.981 At present, the Agency consists of a total of 13 staff. This includes 1 Acting CEO, 2 Assistant Principals, 3 Higher...

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (23 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Adoptions from Ethiopia, effected under the transitional arrangements provided for in the Adoption Act 2010, are ongoing and are currently being examined, and recognised, by the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI). These transitional arrangements may lead to adoptions from Ethiopia taking place up to the end of October 2012. The Adoption Act 2010 also contains provision for a one year...

Written Answers — Child Abuse: Child Abuse (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: In the first instance, I would like make a clear distinction between the Criminal Justice (Withholding of Information) Bill and the draft Heads of the Children First Bill. The focus of the Withholding Bill is on the responsibility of all citizens to provide information to the Gardaí where they have knowledge of a serious sexual crime against a child, in the investigation and prosecution of...

Written Answers — Departmental Agencies: Departmental Agencies (22 May 2012)

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 — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: My Department currently administers three support programmes - the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. During 2011, all areas of expenditure within my Department were examined under the Comprehensive Review of Expenditure. Under this review savings of some...

Written Answers — Foreign Adoptions: Foreign Adoptions (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 570 and 592 together. Adoptions from Ethiopia, effected under the transitional arrangements provided for in the Adoption Act 2010, are ongoing and are currently being examined, and recognised, by the Adoption Authority of Ireland (AAI). These transitional arrangements may lead to adoptions from Ethiopia taking place up to the end of October 2012. The...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: My Department is participating in the JobBridge National Internship Scheme which provides work experience placements for interns for a 6 or 9 month period. The aim of the National Internship Scheme is to assist in breaking the cycle where jobseekers are unable to get a job without experience, either as new entrants to the labour market after education or training or as unemployed workers...

Written Answers — Foreign Adoptions: Foreign Adoptions (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption entered into force for Vietnam on 1 February 2012. The ratification of the Hague Convention by Vietnam, the associated changes in Vietnamese law and the arrangements being put in place to support on the ground implementation represent significant changes in the intercountry adoption regime in that country. Under section 72 of the Adoption Act...

Written Answers — Foreign Adoptions: Foreign Adoptions (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The HSE has advised that waiting times for intercountry adoption assessments have reduced considerably across the country. According to the HSE the waiting time for assessments varies around the country and, in general, the maximum waiting time is 12 months. The Adoption Authority informs me that waiting times between the sending of an adoption application pack and the actual completion of...

Written Answers — Missing Persons: Missing Persons (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Under EU telecoms rules agreed in 2009, the 116000 number is reserved in all EU member states for a missing children hotline. My Department established and is leading a cross-sectoral Project Team, including representatives of my own Department, the Department of Justice and Equality, ComReg and An Garda Síochána to advance this matter. The position is that Comreg, who have responsibility...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme was introduced in January 2010 and provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children in the year before commencing primary school. The programme includes a number of provisions to enable children with special needs to benefit fully from the programme. These include an option for children with special needs to apply to have the...

Written Answers — Adoption Services: Adoption Services (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Considerable progress has been made in drafting the Heads of Bill for the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2012. The proposed legislation has been included in the legislative programme for my Department for 2012 and it is one of a number of Bills which I intend to introduce in the Oireachtas during the course of this year. While the drafting of the Heads of Bill is still under way in...

Written Answers — Adoption Services: Adoption Services (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Considerable progress has been made in drafting the Heads of Bill for the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill 2012. The proposed legislation has been included in the legislative programme for my Department for 2012 and it is one of a number of Bills which I intend to introduce in the Oireachtas during the course of this year. While the drafting of the Heads of Bill is still under way in...

Written Answers — Child Protection: Child Protection (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The HSE has piloted and is currently evaluating two out-of-hours pilot projects, one in Donegal and the other in Cork. The Donegal pilot project commenced in mid 2011 and the Cork project in the third quarter of last year. Both projects are still running and involve the provision by local HSE staff of social work support out-of-hours where deemed necessary by Gardai. HSE social workers...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Department of Children and Youth Affairs was established on the 2nd June 2011. I can confirm that no retired public servant was re-hired by my Department in the period up to April 2012.

Written Answers — Adoption Services: Adoption Services (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: At the outset it must be understood that the Adoption Authority of Ireland, and its predecessor The Adoption Board, has no statutory responsibility in respect of the matter raised but has endeavoured to assist persons affected, to the extent open to it. In that regard, I would refer to the fact that the Guidelines on Information and Tracing services first issued by the Adoption Board in 2004...

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The latest information from the HSE indicates that 57 social worker posts have been submitted to the National Recruitment Service since the beginning of 2012 and in the following care areas: 48 Children and Families 6 Mental Health 1 Acute Services 2 Not stated These posts are at various stages of recruitment. It will be seen from the figures that the vast majority of the replacement posts...

Written Answers — Children in Care: Children in Care (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The latest available information from the HSE is in respect of February 2012. This indicates that 89.3% of the total of 6,168 children in care nationally across all care types had a written care plan as defined by Child Care Regulations 1995. The figures for March are currently being finalised and as soon as this information becomes available it will be forwarded to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Children in Care: Children in Care (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The latest available information from the HSE is in respect of February 2012. This indicates that 91.9% of the 6,168 children in care nationally across all care types have an allocated social worker. The figures for March are currently being finalised and as soon as this information becomes available it will be forwarded to the Deputy.

Written Answers — Health Service Staff: Health Service Staff (22 May 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Government has decided that health service employment numbers must be reduced to approximately 102,000 by the end of this year, in line with its commitment to reduce public expenditure. The employment control framework for the health sector, including children and family services, is expected to be finalised shortly. It is not anticipated that any particular grade will be exempted from...