Written Answers Nos. 606-622
606. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his Department has ever used artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, in drafting Dáil speeches or responses to Parliamentary Questions; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29273/24]
View answerI wish to advise that officials in this Department are not authorised to use AI applications such as ChatGPT when drafting speeches or responses to PQs.
607. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of laptops or mobile phones owned by his Department that have been lost or stolen in each of the past ten years. [29291/24]
View answerPlease find below table containing the requested information.
|
Laptops Lost |
Laptops Stolen |
Phones Lost |
Phones Stolen |
|
|
2024 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
|
2023 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
|
2022 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
|
2021 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
2020 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
Total |
1 |
2 |
11 |
0 |
We have no records of any lost/stolen ICT Devices prior to 2020
609. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his views on whether emergency legislation to protect the privately-held administrative records of institutions such as Magdalene laundries, industrial schools, orphanages, reformatories and mother and baby homes and bodies that engaged in the arranging of adoptions should be passed in Dáil and Seanad Éireann before the summer recess (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29352/24]
View answerIn March 2022, Government approved high-level proposals for a National Centre for Research and Remembrance, to be located on the site of the former Magdalen Laundry on Sean McDermott Street in Dublin 1. This Centre will stand as a site of conscience to honour equally all those who spent time in Industrial Schools, Magdalen Laundries, Mother and Baby and County Home Institutions, Reformatories, and related institutions.
The National Centre will stand as part of our national institutions. In addition to a museum and exhibition space, and a garden space for reflection and remembrance, it will include a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives (NAI). Most of the records to be contained in the National Centre will transfer to NAI from a government department or State body who created, received or held the records in the course of their own business functions. A process has commenced across departments to prepare these records for transfer to the National Centre under the provisions of the National Archives Act 1986.
Other organisations and institutions have also been identified such as private/religious institutions and/or individuals that may hold relevant records not subject to the National Archives Act. As part of its ongoing work, NAI is engaging with these institutions and bodies to address how such records could be appropriately made available over time, and accessible for research purposes in the context of the new archive given the complementarity of such holdings. In addition to the work of NAI in this context, the issue of further legislative provisions to safeguard privately held records is something which is currently being examined under the Legal and Legislative workstream of the National Centre initiative.
610. Deputy Fergus O'Dowd asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his position regarding requests by an organisation (details supplied) to provide sustainable funding for national physiotherapy services for people with multiple sclerosis, and other neurological conditions, totalling €880,000 per annum across all 9 CHOs and an increase of €627,000 in annual investment in the national MS respite centre to build on the €250,000 delivered in 2024. [29370/24]
View answerAs this question refers to operational matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
611. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of WTE accountants employed by his Department in the years of 2023 and to date in 2024, in tabular form; and if this number will be increased. [29396/24]
View answerThe number of accountants employed by my Department as of year end 2023 and end of June 2024 are listed in the table below.
|
Date |
31/12/2023 |
30/06/2024 |
|
Number of Accountants |
6 |
7 |
It is expected that more accountants will be on-boarded in 2024 from panels held by Public Jobs.
613. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the supports his Department is making available to the special rapporteur on racism and members of the national action plan on racism advisory committee, including office and technical supports; the remuneration that the special rapporteur and members of the advisory committee will receive or be entitled to claim, including travel and accommodation expenses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29565/24]
View answerThe newly appointed Special Rapporteur on Racial Equality and Racism will monitor progress towards the objectives of the National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR). The Special Rapporteur will make an annual report to the Minister; this report will also be submitted to the relevant Oireachtas Committee.
To support this work, an Advisory Committee on Racism and Racial Equality, chaired by the Special Rapporteur, has also been established with membership from a cross section of society. This Committee is also tasked with monitoring and helping to progress the implementation of the NAPAR, and will provide knowledge and expertise to the Special Rapporteur and advise and support the development and implementation of policies in this area.
The Special Rapporteur will be supported by two staff (one researcher and one administrative role, to be appointed), and will receive a stipend of €25,000 per annum for each year of their four-year term. Members of the Advisory Committee will be eligible to have their travel and subsistence costs met (in accordance with agreed civil service rates) where meetings occur in person.
614. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide details on how the special rapporteur on racism was selected; if any other candidates were considered; if so, how many; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29566/24]
View answerThe National Action Plan Against Racism (NAPAR), which was developed by an independent Anti-Racism Committee and approved by the Government for publication in March 2023, recommended the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on Racial Equality and Racism to ensure effective monitoring and implementation of the plan.
An open competition for the purpose of recommending an individual for appointment to the position of the Special Rapporteur was run by the Public Appointments Service earlier this year. Following a shortlisting process, a list of candidates were selected for interview. Dr. Ebun Joseph has been appointed as the Special Rapporteur on Racial Equality and Racism with effect from 1 July 2024.
615. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he is aware of the recent drive to end profit in the social care sector in Wales (details supplied); his views on whether persons should be profiting from children in care; his further views on the need to nationalise the social care sector to end the reliance on charities; if he will support an end to profiteering from the social care sector in Ireland; and the actions his Department will take to make this happen. [29567/24]
View answerStatutory responsibility for the provision of children’s alternative care services, including foster care and residential care, rests in the first instance with Tusla, as set out in the Child Care Act 1991 and the Child and Family Agency Act 2013. Tusla is independent in the performance of its duties and may exercise discretion in carrying out its statutory functions.
Section 41 of the Child and Family Act, 2013 stipulates that I, as Minister, provide guidance to Tusla in the form of the Performance Framework, which is published every three years. The Performance Framework is an opportunity to provide the Agency with policy guidance, direction and prioritisation parameters for the preparation of its corporate plan.
I am fully conscious that an over reliance on private providers in any context can bring with it certain risks, and I have been clear in the latest Performance Framework that Tusla should place a key focus on increasing overall capacity in both foster and residential care, while working to reduce reliance on private provision. Priorities 4.3 and 4.4 of the latest Performance Framework recommend that Tusla work to increase residential care capacity, and to progress commitments contained in its Strategic Plans to reduce reliance on private provision.
Tusla’s Strategic Plan for Foster Care Services for Children and Young People 2022 – 2025, and their Strategic Plan for Residential Care Services for Children and Young People 2022 -2025 form part of Tusla’s overall Alternative Care Strategy across the continuum of care. The implementation plan for this strategy and regular progress updates are shared with my Department.
Tusla’s Strategic Plans for Alternative Care propose significant expenditure in support of service improvements over the period 2022-2025. These include, but are not limited to, Capital expenditure to build capacity in residential care and to reverse a reliance on private provision. In this regard, Tusla’s Strategic Plan for Residential Care Services for Children and Young People 2022-2025 outlines an ambition to incrementally reverse the Agency’s dependency on private residential care, increasing its public residential capacity by an additional 104 beds, with a view to achieving 50:50 private:public provision.
Tusla also publishes yearly Business Plans, setting out detailed goals which will enable it to make progress on the priorities as set out in the Performance Framework. Objective 3.8 of Tusla’s Business Plan for 2024 sets out the goal of opening four additional Tusla-owned residential care units, providing sixteen additional beds.
Contained within Recommendation 3 in Tusla’s Strategic Plan for Foster Care Services, Tusla has committed to reviewing the use of private foster care providers and to develop a clear scope for the use of such agencies.
Further, in respect of efforts to support Tusla to maintain the number of foster carers, I was very pleased to secure, on behalf of Tusla, a significant increase in the rates of the Foster Care Allowance in Budget 2024.
I very much welcome and support the outlined commitments by Tusla in respect of the use of private provision with alternative care services.
616. Deputy Michael Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when section 39 employees will receive their pay increase following the pay agreement reached in October 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29594/24]
View answerThis government acknowledges the roles provided by essential workers in community and voluntary organisations who deliver health and social care services to many people across the country.
To support the sustainability of services, including the ability of organisations to recruit and retain staff, the government is proactively engaging with a Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) process with unions representing various organisations across these sectors.
The pay agreement reached in October 2023 delivered a significant increase in funding to these services, amounting to a phased 8% increase in funding for pay for Section 39 staff. An additional €41m has been made available to the HSE in 2024 to meet the full year cost of this increase for S39 disability service providers, with the balance provided for in the Department of Health Vote.
The HSE has contracted dedicated resources to work with employer organisations and has set up a portal to expedite payments. Significant interim payments were made to qualifying organisations in late January/early February 2024 and the HSE is currently in the process of administering the balance of funding to eligible organisations.
At 27th June, of 1,160 organisations to whom communication was made, 551 have made submissions.
Almost all submissions require additional interaction between the contractor and the Section 39 organisation; this has been a positive interactive process involving validation and clarification. A number of Section 39s have taken the opportunity to adjust their submissions following this engagement. This process is ongoing with Section 39 organisations who have submitted their claim.
172 organisations, which includes the largest disability funded organisations, have exited this process and benefitted from €44.6m in additional funding for pay.
It is the objective of commissioning agencies to make all due payments without delay so that employees of these service provider organisations can access their entitlements without delay. There is also a responsibility of employers to apply for this available funding and pass on increases to eligible staff as soon as possible.
617. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number, and percentage, of registered childcare providers who are not taking part in the core funding model; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29595/24]
View answerCore Funding is in operation since 15 September 2022 and has achieved very significant success in terms of the high levels of participation.
95% of providers participated in year 1 of the scheme, 94.5% providers have signed up for Core Funding Year 2. There are more providers in absolute terms participating in the Scheme this year.
At its peak in Core Funding Year 1, there were 4,245 services participating. As of 1st July 2024, there are 4,348 services participating in Core Funding Year 2.
Applications for Year 3, which begins on 1st September 2024, opened last week. Almost 500 services have already submitted applications within this first week, with uptake typically increasing rapidly over the summer months.
My Department is pleased with this high level of engagement and while my Department cannot mandate providers to participate in the Scheme, every effort has been made to carefully design the Scheme to achieve high levels of participation by providers.
Arising from Budget 2024, the Core Funding allocation for year 3 of the scheme will increase again by 15% - to €331 million. This will support the delivery of a range of enhancements in Year 3 of the scheme to support improved affordability and accessibility for families, improved pay and conditions for the workforce and improved sustainability for providers.
618. Deputy Cian O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if there are plans to increase core funding to childcare providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29596/24]
View answerInvestment in early learning and childcare is at unprecedented levels with public funding for the first time reaching more than €1 billion in 2023 for early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector.
Core Funding, which is a significant achievement of this Government, was first introduced in September 2022. It is designed and has worked to support improved quality of provision, improved pay and conditions for staff, a fee freeze for parents and sustainability and stability of income for services. Core Funding makes a significant additional contribution to services' income, allowing them to better absorb increased costs.
In year 1 of Core Funding, €259 million was allocated to the scheme, Core funding in its second year had a budget that was increased by 11% to reach €287 million, providing a sustainable platform for investment with increases for all services.
This year, all services will have seen further increases to their core funding allocations from the second year due to the increased allocations towards non-staff overheads and administrative staff and time.
In addition, the Government introduced a number of targeted supports for small and sessional services in year 2 of the scheme to improve sustainability of these services, specifically a flat rate top-up of €4,075 for sessional-only services and a minimum base rate allocation of €8,150.
These measures saw the average allocation under core funding for sessional-only services increase by 32% this year.
Budget 2024 allocated an additional €37.4m to Core Funding. This increase on the 2023 allocation will support continued implementation of the scheme for the second programme year (September 2023 to August 2024) and into the third programme year from September 2024.
I announced on 2 July, details of Year 3 of Core Funding worth €331 million, which will run from September 2024 to August 2025. This is an increase of €44 million (15%) on the current programme year. This funding will accompany new developments to the scheme rules to support services as well as children and their families.
The new developments for Year 3 of Core Funding will include:
An increase to the flat rate top-up for sessional-only services to €5,000 per service (currently €4,075);
An increase to the minimum amount of funding a centre-based service will receive to €14,000 per year (currently €8,150);
An increase to the base rate allocation per place offered across all age groups, with larger increases for children under three years old; and
Funding to support capacity growth of almost 6% across the sector.
The increases I announced will support expanded capacity, particularly capacity for children under three and stability of income to services, particularly low-income services. Since its introduction, I have pledged to grow Core Funding and I have delivered on that.
619. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made in children's disability services since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; his plans for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29614/24]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
620. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made in adult multidisciplinary therapies services since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; his plans for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29615/24]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
621. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made in adult day services since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; his plans for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29616/24]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
622. Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made in personal assistance and home support services since 27 June 2020; the additional funding provided in successive budgets; his plans for 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29617/24]
View answerAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
