Results 341-360 of 1,040,540 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Ciarán Cuffe OR speaker:Michael Healy-Rae OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Gary Gannon OR speaker:Pádraig Mac Lochlainn) in 'Committee meetings'

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Claire Kerrane: I thank the Minister. He has acknowledged the delays and such is the nature of applications. There are sometimes delays where additional information is needed or the applications need to be looked at again. How many people are dealing with the processing and issuing of these payments? I was recently contacted by a survivor who had received a letter to state they would be given the...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. She has spoken about an enhancement to the roll-out of the scheme that has been put in place. It is important to recognise that we are looking to make this scheme as easy as possible for people to get the initial award of a payment, a medical card or both, and to draw down the benefit. The Deputy identified a slight lacuna. A resource is being put in place to address...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Mother and Baby Homes

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Holly Cairns: 4. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will fund a physical survey of the estate of the Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork city to locate the possible burial place of the more than 800 unaccounted for children who died in Bessborough or in hospital after being transferred from Bessborough; to outline any plans the Government has for this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Holly Cairns: I ask the Minister if he will fund a physical survey of the estate of Bessborough mother and baby home in Cork city to locate the possible burial place of more than 800 children who are unaccounted for and who died in Bessborough or in hospital after being transferred from Bessborough. I ask him to outline plans the Government has for this site and to make a statement on the matter.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. I am conscious of the hurt felt in particular by the survivors and family members of people who died in Bessborough. One of the most tragic aspects of what happened in that particular mother and baby institution was the uncertainty regarding the burial places of the many children who were resident there and the many children who we know died there and in some linked...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Holly Cairns: We do not know the full extent of the infant deaths in Bessborough. The order's records are unreliable and its statements to the commission were nothing short of abject lies in an attempt to scramble away from justice. At least 928 babies died in Bessborough but only 64 graves have been identified. The Department of local government at the time chalked the scale of infant deaths down to...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank the Deputy. I have had the opportunity to visit the site at Bessborough with a number of survivors and former residents. I know there are differing views on the excavation and reburial of human remains at that site. When we discussed Tuam, there was absolute agreement about the treatment of remains and the State's response. I do not think there is unanimity about the response at...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Holly Cairns: Sometimes it feels like there is a disconnect in respect of how the Minister speaks about this issue and the lived experience of people. I will give one example. In 1960, 18-year-old Madeleine Walsh was sent to Bessborough. Her baby son, William, fell ill when he was three days old and was taken from her. He died when he was six weeks old. After years of requests for information, she was...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: That is a really difficult question to answer. How do we seek some degree of agreement or alignment among survivors on a site when there are clear differences as to how to proceed? I will not lie to the Deputy; I do not have the full answer for her today. There are different groups of survivors represented in Tuam but I know from my engagement when I travelled to Tuam and met survivors...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (2 Oct 2024)

Seán Sherlock: I appreciate that the Minister stated percentage increases but I do not see any hard figures. All of us in the Opposition rely on hard figures. I appreciate the point the Minister is making, if I am reading him correctly, that it is not possible to give an exact top-line figure for the number of people waiting. However, it is clear from the running theme in the questions so far this...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Capacity is now our core challenge in early years. Four years ago when I became Minister, the challenge was staff pay, which remains a challenge. The challenge was also the cost of childcare for parents. We have done a lot to meet that. It is still too expensive for some parents but we have taken important steps. The challenge was the sustainability of providers. In year four, core...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (2 Oct 2024)

Seán Sherlock: It would be useful if the Minister could furnish me with the reply and the breakdown by county in numerical form as opposed to percentage increase form. I reiterate the point I made on the movement towards a public model. The Taoiseach, on 11 September, stated, “I want childcare to be part of the public education system”. That is the Taoiseach saying that. He also said...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I think the Taoiseach was speaking in the context of proposals for his party’s manifesto in the general election, so I will not speak for him. However, I am happy to speak about what my own party will be talking about in the general election campaign.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (2 Oct 2024)

Seán Sherlock: He is the Taoiseach of the country.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Childcare Services (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The Deputy asked my view and I am very happy to give it to him. I believe the two years of ECCE should be legislated for on a statutory basis, so that every child has the right to access ECCE. Second, I believe that in areas of high capacity, the State now needs to step in and look at providing services directly. A combined model of public provision, community provision and private...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Mother and Baby Homes

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Claire Kerrane: 3. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of payments that have been made under the mother and baby institutions payment scheme; if he is concerned at the time it is taking to process applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38967/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Claire Kerrane: What is the specific number of payments, not the number being processed, that have been made to survivors of the mother and baby homes under the payment scheme?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions: Mother and Baby Homes (2 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: The mother and baby institutions payment scheme opened for applications in March this year. As of 30 September, more than 5,160 applications had been received. There are 4,540 fully completed applications that have proceeded into the processing system. The payment scheme office is supporting the remainder, namely, those applicants with incomplete applications who need to provide some...