Written Answers Nos. 188-207
188. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the supports available to people that suspect that they are living with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, in particular those who are under the age of 16 years of age; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14312/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraResponsibility for foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) resides with Department of Health’s (DOH) Health and Wellbeing unit. FASD is not deemed to be a disability at this time, and as a result, the services needed to address issues around FASD are primarily found within the remit of DOH. The DOH currently have the remit over the Expert Advisory Group on FASD directly relevant to the question posed by the Deputy, therefore this is a matter for the office of the Minister for Health.
189. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps taken to meet the commitments under Article 21 (c) of the WHO Global Strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14313/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThis is more appropriate for my colleague the Minister for Health.
190. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide an update on the progress of the 2022 HSE position paper on the prevention of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14314/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraResponsibility for foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) resides with Department of Health’s (DOH) Health and Wellbeing unit. FASD is not deemed to be a disability at this time, and as a result, the services needed to address issues around FASD are primarily found within the remit of DOH. The DOH currently have the remit over the Expert Advisory Group on FASD directly relevant to the question posed by the Deputy, therefore this is a matter for the office of the Minister for Health.
191. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the criteria used and the steps taken to diagnose foetal alcohol syndrome and partial foetal alcohol syndrome; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14315/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraResponsibility for foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) resides with Department of Health’s (DOH) Health and Wellbeing unit. FASD is not deemed to be a disability at this time, and as a result, the services needed to address issues around FASD are primarily found within the remit of DOH. The DOH currently have the remit over the Expert Advisory Group on FASD directly relevant to the question posed by the Deputy, therefore this is a matter for the office of the Minister for Health.
192. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason that foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is not deemed by her Department or agencies under her aegis to be a disability at this time; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14316/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraResponsibility for foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) resides with Department of Health’s (DOH) Health and Wellbeing unit. FASD is not deemed to be a disability at this time, and as a result, the services needed to address issues around FASD are primarily found within the remit of DOH. The DOH currently have the remit over the Expert Advisory Group on FASD directly relevant to the question posed by the Deputy, therefore this is a matter for the office of the Minister for Health.
193. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children in Louth who applied for an assessment of needs for each of the years 2020 to 2025; the number of assessment of needs carried out for the each of the years 2020 to 2025, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14319/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
194. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children in Louth that are currently awaiting an assessment of need; the number of these children that have been waiting up to three months; the number waiting between three and six months; the number waiting between six and twelve months; the number waiting more than twelve months; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14320/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
195. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the average waiting time in Louth for a child seeking an assessment of needs. [14321/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
196. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the longest waiting time in Louth for a child seeking an assessment of needs. [14322/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
197. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of complaints and appeals received for each year from 2020 to 2025 respectively from persons in Louth who were dissatisfied with their child’s assessment of needs or service statement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14323/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
198. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to confirm the current pathway in place to process assessment of need applications for children in Louth. [14324/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
199. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide a breakdown by grade of the current staffing resources in place to process assessment of need applications for children in Louth. [14325/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
200. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the plans or proposals in place to ensure that children can access an assessment of need and any subsequent recommended supports within the statutory timeframes, in Louth; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14326/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
201. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she is aware of a case (details supplied) in which a family have had their subsidised childcare hours slashed from 45 to 31 due to underattendance caused by frequent illness of the child; and if she will instruct her Department to look into this issue and ensure the family has appropriate childcare. [14328/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is designed to be flexible in acknowledgement that many families avail of the Scheme and their childcare needs differ widely. For this reason, NCS subsidies are awarded as an hourly rate, along with a maximum number of weekly hours that the subsidy will be paid for.
The subsidy payment is based on the hours agreed between the parent and provider, and subject to the rules of non-attendance. This is a key financial and governance control to ensure that Exchequer funding is used responsibly, and not to fund full-time places in respect of children actually attending part-time hours.
This said, the rules of the Scheme are designed to be very flexible and we recognise that there are many reasons why a child’s attendance may occasionally be less than their agreed hours. For instance, as the question details, a child may attend less due to illness. To be clear, occasionally under-attendance will not affect their award or subsidy received. Awards are only revised where continual under-attendance is recorded for a consecutive 12 week period.
Prior to this point, if a child attends fewer than their agreed hours for a consecutive eight week period, a warning will issue to the parent alerting them to the situation. At this point, if the child attends their agreed hours for a full week after this warning is issued, then no further action is taken and the cycle resets. However, if the under-attendance continues for a further four weeks, the number of subsidised hours awarded under the Scheme will be revised. The hours are revised to reflect the average number of hours that were actually attended by the child over the previous 12-week period.
To reiterate, once the under-attendance is broken by one full week of attendance within this cycle, the subsidy is not changed. Subsidies are only reduced if a child is continuously under-attending or not using the agreed hours for a period of 12 consecutive weeks.
These rules strike a fair and appropriate balance between flexibility for families’ everyday lives while at the same time taking the necessary steps to protect State finances.
Finally, it may also be of interest to note that early learning and childcare providers can round up part hours of daily attendance to the next whole hour (once still within the service's operating hours). This means that if a child attends 4 hours and 1 minute (or more), it is recorded as 5 hours of attendance for that day.
Should this family require further support, it is advised that they contact Pobal's Parent Support Centre who are best placed to advise. The Parent Support Centre is available for contact on 01 906 8530, Monday to Friday 9am-5pm. Further information is also available on the NCS website. The website's FAQs (www.ncs.gov.ie/en/faqs/) in particular may be useful.
202. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the supports available to children with additional needs in childcare settings where the child is too young to enrol in ECCE and cannot access AIM support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14339/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower Early Learning and Care (ELC) providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE Programme and reap the benefits of quality early years care and education in any mainstream ELC service. AIM resources are allocated based on a child’s individual needs.
An independent evaluation of AIM was published in January 2024. The findings from the evaluation have already informed the phased extension of AIM announced in Budget 2024, which commenced with the extension of targeted AIM supports to ECCE-age children beyond time they spend in the ECCE programme, both in-term and out-of-term from September 2024. Children can now access these supports for up to an additional 3 hours per day during the ECCE term and up to 6 hours per day outside of the ECCE term (in holiday periods).
It is intended that over time, all children with additional needs registered in early learning and care (ELC) services will have access to supports under AIM. To this end, a tailored model is under design which would enable the extension of AIM to children under three. It is also intended to give consideration at a later date to an extension of AIM for children attending school-age childcare.
203. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of children waiting on assessment of needs in CHO9, and the estimated wait time. [14354/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
204. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when her Department officials last met with the Data Protection Commissioner to ensure the highest standards are being met by the Department, and all agencies under its remit, in terms of compliance with data protection legislation. [14435/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department, as a data controller, is committed to meeting its obligations under the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). The Department’s DPO is responsible for informing and advising the Department and its employees of their obligations under the GDPR, for monitoring compliance with the GDPR and for cooperating with and acting as a point of contact for the Data Protection Commission.
Under the GDPR, there are a number of situations in which consultation and engagement with the Data Protection Commission may take place. These include consultation in relation to Data Protection Impact Assessments and consultations during the preparation of a legislative measure that relates to the processing of personal data.
Some recent engagement with the Data Protection Commission has related to the following:
• the General Scheme of the Child Care (Amendment) Bill 2023 and the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2024;
• the Maternity Protection, Employment Equality and Preservation of Certain Records Act 2024;
• Regulations under the Institutional Burials Act 2022;
• the Mother and Baby Institutions Payment Scheme Act 2023;
• the National Equality Data Strategy.
My Department will continue to engage, as appropriate, with the Data Protection Commission on all matters relating to the processing of personal data under the Department’s remit.
205. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on when promised respite to a person (details supplied) will be made available; and if she will make a statement on the matter accounting for the delay in provision. [14460/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly.
206. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth as to when an assessment for ADHD will be made for a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14461/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
207. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on when CDNT support will be provided for a person (details supplied; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14462/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to service matters, I have asked the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
