Results 401-420 of 1,040,667 for in 'Dáil debates' OR (speaker:Pat Deering OR speaker:Cian O'Callaghan OR speaker:Brendan Howlin) in 'Committee meetings'

Prelude (2 Oct 2024)

Prayer and Reflection.

Prelude (2 Oct 2024)

Paidir agus Machnamh.

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

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

Childcare Services

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

Claire Kerrane: 1. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the action he is taking to build capacity in the childcare sector; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38966/24]

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

Claire Kerrane: My question is about capacity in the childcare sector. There are major deficiencies, with thousands of children without a childcare place. What actions does the Minister intend to take to build capacity urgently in the sector?

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

Roderic O'Gorman: My Department delivers capital funding to the sector to support capacity growth. This year, the building blocks expansion scheme is funding reconfigurations of services to enable them to increase the number of places, particularly for one- to three-year-olds. I will launch the building blocks extension scheme soon, which will make €25 million available next year in large-scale...

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

Claire Kerrane: I thank the Minister. The first point he made relates to capital expenditure and the provision of extensions and new builds under the building blocks scheme. However, the 33,000 children who need a childcare place today cannot wait for the capital projects and extensions, which, in many cases, I presume, will require planning permission. Some providers have the physical space needed but...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: I might return in my next contribution to the last issue the Deputy raised. Regarding capital, we announced a capital scheme in 2023 that was drawn down this year. That will already be delivering additional places. The Deputy is absolutely right regarding existing buildings. The new capital scheme I am set to announce in the next number of weeks will allow community services, in...

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

Claire Kerrane: I acknowledge that. However, the last pay increase that was achieved was 65 cent. It took 14 months to negotiate it. It could not be done around the table, with workers having to seek assistance from the Labour Court. If they wait another 14 months and get about 60 cent, we will lose the early years educators we desperately need from the sector. There are childcare places that would be...

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

Roderic O'Gorman: As the Deputy knows, the JLC process is an independent process. We have improved it by the State stepping up and saying clearly to the parties that if they get a pay agreement, we will back it up in terms of meeting some of the extra wage costs for providers. It was disappointing that it took 14 months last time. I was very clear in what I announced yesterday that the allocation for staff...

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

Childcare Services

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

Seán Sherlock: 2. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children on a waiting list for early learning and care and school-age childcare services, by county. [38914/24]

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

Seán Sherlock: How many people, by county, are waiting for childcare places at this time across each of the offerings being provided by the Minister's Department? I ask for that information to be given in tabular form, with a county-by-county breakdown.

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

Roderic O'Gorman: I cannot read out the information in tabular form but I will get that breakdown to the Deputy.

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

Seán Sherlock: I ask that the Minister read out the data for Cork. We will start there.

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

Roderic O'Gorman: The data available to my Department demonstrates that, overall, early learning and childcare provision is expanding. The early years sector profile survey shows that between the 2021-22 year and the 2022-23 year, the estimated number of enrolments in services rose by 8% and the estimated number of staff in the early learning and childcare workforce also rose by 8%. Data from Tusla on...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: The Windsor Framework and Related Matters: Discussion (2 Oct 2024)

Brendan Howlin: I welcome the witnesses. It is almost with a sense of foreboding that we re-enter the horror story of the washout of Brexit, something which seems to have occupied not just this committee but also so much of all of our thinking for years in a very unproductive way. It is simply about trying to make the best of the situation for Ireland and, in my view, the United Kingdom. The outworking of...

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: The Windsor Framework and Related Matters: Discussion (2 Oct 2024)

Brendan Howlin: When Mr. Donohoe says "not comfortable", are they legally able to be comfortable?

Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Union Affairs: The Windsor Framework and Related Matters: Discussion (2 Oct 2024)

Brendan Howlin: So it is not a matter of being comfortable. It is that they cannot deal with it.