Results 1,781-1,800 of 1,059,856 for in 'Dáil debates' OR in 'Committee meetings' (speaker:Micheál Martin OR speaker:Darren O'Rourke OR speaker:Pa Daly OR speaker:Seán Crowe OR speaker:Richard Bruton OR speaker:Niall Collins OR speaker:Matt Shanahan)

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Library Services (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Deputy Marc Ó Cathasaigh will only get one chance to reply.

Ceisteanna Eile (Atógáil) - Other Questions (Resumed): Library Services (24 Oct 2024)

Marc Ó Cathasaigh: That is no problem. I am fully in support of this programme. It is fantastic. I am a Dad, but I was also a teacher in a previous life. Bringing school kids to the library and establishing those links is so important in terms of literacy and encouraging kids to read for fun. It has so many benefits in their later life, not only in their progression in literacy but in their access to so...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: It is not. The Child Law Project is very important in shining a light on where the State has failed. We learn from that. One of the responses I have made to the work the project has done and my engagement with other NGOs working in this area has been to convene a new committee of statutory agencies. We are bringing together the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána, my Department and...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: We still do not have an adequate explanation. Again, this is not a surprise. The period of funding was going to run out and there was going to be a new tender process and yet there is still a gap. There are two possible explanations. One is the political motivation of leaning on the project. The Minister says that is not the case. The other explanation is no more satisfactory. It is...

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Before the Minister comes in, I call Deputy Durkan.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Bernard Durkan: Will the Minister indicate the extent, if any, to which intervention on behalf of children is restricted where those children are the subject matter of litigation in the family law courts? Has the in camera rule restricted the ability of Tusla to intercede on their behalf?

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Connolly: That was a supplemental question to this question.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I thank Deputy Durkan. I will need to come back to him if I am to give him a comprehensive answer. If it is all right, I will come back to him in writing on that question. The tendering process will begin in November. I met with the Child Law Project in March and set out our position. We have brought in legislation on assisted decision-making, which also involves a reporting element....

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Connolly: Deputy Murphy missed his priority question.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: I did. I am sorry. There was confusion on our side.

Ceisteanna Eile - Other Questions: Child Care Law Reporting Project (24 Oct 2024)

Catherine Connolly: I will break some of the rules as we are near the end. I ask the Deputy to be as brief as possible. I will then move on to Deputy Ó Cathasaigh.

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed) (24 Oct 2024)

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Child and Family Agency

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: 4. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if Tusla has stopped using the services of a company (details supplied); if so, when it stopped; to provide details of payments to the company in 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43567/24]

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: Has Tusla stopped using the services of Supervised Access Ireland? I spoke about this in the Dáil last week when we were making statements on child protection. There are a number of serious issues with Supervised Access Ireland, including the treatment of workers and the overcharging of parents using its services. It seems that Supervised Access Ireland received a fair bit of money in...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Following issues with this service provider, Tusla's director of services issued a direction to all regional chief officers on 15 January of this year to stop using the services of this company. Tusla informed my Department on 10 September that one Tusla local area inadvertently re-engaged this particular service. The service was wrongly engaged for supervised access where another funded...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: Was that in 2024?

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: Yes, it was this year. Tusla has advised that this arrangement ceased on 8 October this year. Two children in a sibling group availed of this service for supervised access in one local area. It was one family. This company supervised four visits. I want to make it clear that this is not acceptable and should not have happened. We have raised the issue directly with Tusla. The spend...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Paul Murphy: I have two follow-up questions. Does the Minister know whether any other State body continues to have contracts with this company? I do not have the information in front of me but, as far as I know, even after Tusla had stopped using this service, with the exception of the unit that continued to do so, another arm of the State was continuing to use the company's services. On the broader...

Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh (Atógáil) - Priority Questions (Resumed): Child and Family Agency (24 Oct 2024)

Roderic O'Gorman: I always have a preference for the public over the private, particularly in the area of child law and child protection. It is a real concern to me that, because of Tusla's past deficits in recruitment, it is too reliant on private sector providers, whether for supervised access, residential services or fostering services. That is why I have put a lot of investment into Tusla. More than...