Results 17,661-17,680 of 20,459 for speaker:Frances Fitzgerald

Written Answers — Children in Care: Children in Care (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Section 5 of the Child Care Act, 1991 (as amended) provides that the Health Service Executive (HSE) shall take all reasonable steps to provide suitable accommodation for a child who is homeless. There is no statutory requirement for a care plan as the child is not taken into care under the Child Care Act, 1991. The HSE recently undertook a review of services provided to homeless children...

Written Answers — National Children's Strategy: National Children's Strategy (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: My Department is developing a new strategy for children and young people. It will build on Our Children - Their Lives, Ireland's first children's strategy which was published in 2000 and it will cover the period from 2012 to 2017. The new children and young people's policy framework is being developed in a holistic way to comprehend the continuum of the lifecourse from infancy, through...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme was introduced in September 2010 and is implemented by my Department. The CETS programme provides free childcare places to qualifying FÁS and Vocational Educational Committees (VECs) trainees and students. Under the CETS programme, funding is provided by my Department to participating childcare services in return for the...

Written Answers — Ministerial Staff: Ministerial Staff (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: My Department was established on the 2 June 2011 and the details requested by the Deputy are set out in tabular form below. Name Grade WTE (Wholetime Equivalent) Salary € Marion Mannion Special Advisor 1 80,051 Jennifer Carroll Special Advisor 0.5 40,025 William Lavelle Special Advisor 0.5 40,025 Emer Higgins Personal Assistant (Constituency Office) 1 43,715 Meagan NíChuirc...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (11 Jan 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 — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, which is implemented by my Department, was introduced in January 2010 and provides for a free pre-school year to all eligible children in the year before they commence primary school. A capitation payment is provided under the ECCE programme to participating services for each eligible child enrolled for the free pre-school year. The...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 787 and 788 together. My Department is responsible for the implementation of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, which was introduced in January 2010 and provides for one free pre-school year for all eligible children before they commence primary school. In line with the Programme for Government, my Department has made a significant...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Pre-school services, including childminding services, are currently regulated under the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No. 2) Regulations 2006, as provided for under Part VII of the Child Care Act,1991. Operational responsibility for the management and delivery of health and personal social services, including the inspection of childcare facilities, was assigned to the Health Service...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (11 Jan 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. My objective is to incrementally develop the ECCE programme over the term of this Government as resources permit. A key element of this is the implementation of the Workforce Development Plan by the...

Written Answers — Child Care Services: Child Care Services (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I would like to assure the Deputy that the inspectors from both the HSE and the Department of Education and Skills, who are collaborating in a number of joint inspections during 2012, are professional evaluators with the necessary skills and competencies. When the joint inspection programme has been finished it will be reviewed and the result of that review will contribute to future plans for...

Written Answers — National Children's Strategy: National Children's Strategy (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: The 2000 National Children's Strategy has served the country well in the past decade. The successor to the 2000 Strategy which will be developed during 2012 will for the first time include a particular focus on the early years of a child's life. This focus is based on the recognition of the importance of the early years for all aspects of a person's development and also on the widely...

Written Answers — Early Childhood Education: Early Childhood Education (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I propose to take Questions Nos. 793 and 794 together. The evaluation of Síolta was designed to test the methodology used for its implementation and also designed to field test the materials developed for its implementation. Specifically, the evaluator was asked to: Assess the extent to which engagement with the Síolta Quality Assurance programme (QAP) has supported participating early...

Written Answers — National Lottery Funding: National Lottery Funding (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Subhead G of Vote 43 for my Department contained a funding provision of €500,000 in 2011 to support community groups and organisations with an involvement in the provision of supports and services under the application based National Lottery Funding Scheme. The Deputy might note that this resource allocation transferred from the former Department of Health and Children to my Department upon...

Written Answers — Departmental Staff: Departmental Staff (11 Jan 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 — Missing Persons: Missing Persons (11 Jan 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. In a recent debate on this issue in Seanad Éireann, on 12th October last, I gave a commitment to work with relevant Departments and agencies to establish this Hotline in Ireland in 2012. I also announced my intention to establish a cross-sectoral Project Team to...

Written Answers — Youth Services: Youth Services (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: In 2010, funding of €1.5m was allocated from the Dormant Accounts Fund for a measure to improve Youth Café facilities in Ireland. This was the first funding programme specifically targeted at youth cafés. Some 64 projects were approved for funding under two strands i.e. small-scale funding for existing youth cafés and the establishment of new youth café facilities. As a result of...

Written Answers — Departmental Offices: Departmental Offices (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: As neither my Department, nor any agency under the remit my Department, owns any property the issue raised by the Deputy does not arise. I can assure the Deputy that my Department and associated agencies are fully aware of the necessity to reduce administrative costs and there are ongoing efforts across all offices to increase efficiencies in this regard.

Written Answers — Inter-Country Adoptions: Inter-Country Adoptions (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: A delegation comprised of representatives of the Adoption Authority and officials from my Department held exploratory meetings with the Russian authorities in December. The delegation visited Russia in relation to preliminary discussions around the potential for a bilateral on intercountry adoption. This was a follow up to previous discussions which took place earlier in the year, on the...

Written Answers — Youth Services: Youth Services (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: Foróige, the national youth development organisation, following an internal review of the organisation's wide range of provision for young people, has reprioritised its areas of youth provision and programmes. Accordingly, Foróige, in endeavouring to maintain and develop its core services and programmes, has decided to cease the provision of centre-based Youth Information in three areas...

Written Answers — Health Services: Health Services (11 Jan 2012)

Frances Fitzgerald: I have asked the Health Service Executive to update the Deputy as a matter of urgency.