Written Answers Nos. 36 - 45
36. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if funding contributors to Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, can influence or direct its policy on any matter under its remit; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14824/16]
View answerTusla, the Child and Family Agency was established under the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013 on 1 January 2014. The Agency has responsibility for a range of services, including:
- child welfare and protection services, including family support services previously delivered by the HSE;
- services provided by the former Family Support Agency and the National Educational Welfare Board;
- pre-school inspection services;
- domestic, sexual and gender-based violence services;
- community-based services related to the psychological welfare of children and families.
The principal funding contributor to Tusla is the Department of Children and Youth Affairs under Vote 40. In accordance with the Agency's establishing legislation, each year a detailed Performance Statement is issued to the Agency, setting out the level of funding being provided and including specific policy guidance, direction, prioritisation and resource parameters to inform the development of its annual business plan. This Statement also set out the key priorities that are required of Tusla.
In addition, Section 39 of the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013 makes provision for the Agency to accept gifts of money land or other property upon such trusts or conditions as may be specified by the donor. However, Tusla is precluded from accepting gifts if the conditions attaching are inconsistent with the functions or obligations of the Agency as outlined in this Act or any other relevant legislation.
37. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on the fact that some providers of the early childhood care and education scheme (details supplied) have experienced a reduction in their capitation fees as a result of the expansion in capacity to facilitate the second free preschool year under the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14838/16]
View answerI am aware of the service in question and it is my understanding that a decision was taken to remove higher capitation status from this service with effect from January 4th 2016 after a Pobal verification visit found it to be non-compliant with the terms of the scheme for the 2015-16 programme. The service have been contacted and informed of their right to appeal this decision.
For a childcare service to be approved for the higher capitation rate in respect of the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme in 2015-2016 they were required to satisfy criteria regarding qualifications and ratios, which applied to all ECCE rooms/sessions in the service. All pre-schools had to satisfy the minimum qualification requirements as approved on the published list of my Department's Early Years Recognised Qualifications (level 7 or equivalent) and have at least three years' experience working in the early years sector. All pre-school assistants were required to be qualified to level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications. Services also had to ensure that they had enough appropriately qualified staff present for each ECCE session to cover the amount of children present at that time. While it is recognised that there may be challenges in securing staff qualified to Level 7 (or equivalent) in all pre-school rooms, the aim of the significant Government investment in free pre-school is to ensure that children have access to the best quality care and education in their early years.
Following the announcement of the expansion of ECCE in Budget 2016, and the efforts being made by the pre-school sector to provide sufficient additional capacity, my Department decided to make two changes to policy to encourage capacity development: From September 2016, the rules regarding qualifying for higher capitation rate are to change, to allow for Higher Capitation to be paid per room in a service, rather than all rooms being required to meet the criteria. As a result, this particular service will qualify for the Higher Capitation rate for rooms led by level 7 qualified room leaders from September 2016. It was also decided after Budget 2016 that some leniency would be given during compliance visits (for the 2015-16 programme year only) to pre-school providers in receipt of higher capitation that can prove that a that a fully qualified room leader with a minimum level 7 qualification (or equivalent) had been recruited, but was unable to commence employment immediately due to delays experienced with Garda vetting. It is my understanding that this was not the case with this particular service.
38. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has considered amalgamating the proposed adoption information and tracing Bill with the current Adoption Amendment Bill 2016; if not, her rationale for not doing so; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14830/16]
View answerThe primary purpose of the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016 is to amend the Adoption Act 2010 to give legislative effect to the 31st Amendment to the Constitution (Children) Act 2012 which was signed into law on 28th April 2015. However since the Referendum there have been other legislative enactments, in particular the Child and Family Relationships Act 2015, which required the amendments to the Adoption Act 2010, that are included in the Adoption (Amendment) Bill 2016. The Government also decided to include provisions in the Bill for the adoption of a child by his or her step parent without the requirement for the child’s other parent to adopt his or her own child.
The Government approved drafting of the Adoption (Information and Tracing) Bill in December 2015. This Bill is intended to facilitate access to adoption information and operates on the basis of a presumption in favour of disclosing information in so far as is legally and constitutionally possible for both domestic and inter-country adoptions. The Bill was always envisaged as a stand-alone piece of legislation, to address the complex issues of retrospective and future adoptions. Work on the Adoption (Information and Tracing Bill) is progressing and I am committed to progressing the Bill and to publish it as soon as possible this year.
39. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of the family leave Bill 2016; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15155/16]
View answerThe purpose of the Family Leave Bill is to consolidate all the family leave legislation (maternity, paternal, adoptive and carer’s leave) in one Act. This will be a significant statute law consolidation and revision project. The subject matter – leave entitlements from employment for family-related matters – is of interest to all employees, employers, their representatives, members of the legal profession and agencies dealing with employment-related complaints. The proposed Bill consolidates the law on family leave that is at present fragmented across seven individual Acts. There is considerable overlap as well as discrepancies and anomalies as between the various Acts and many issues of this nature have been identified in drafting the Heads and others will emerge and can be addressed as the Bill is being drafted. In relation to paternity leave, the intention, as announced in Budget 2016, is to make provision for 2 weeks leave together with the associated social welfare benefit. I will publish the Paternity Leave and Benefit Bill 2016 shortly. It was originally intended that these provisions would be progressed as part of the Family Leave Bill but they will now be progressed as a stand alone Bill to ensure that the leave is in place as from 30 September. The Family Leave Bill will continue to be progressed as a longer-term project.
40. Deputy Ruth Coppinger asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality her views on giving recognition to Traveller ethnicity; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15085/16]
View answerThe Deputy will be aware that there is a comprehensive consultation process underway, led by my Department, to develop a new National Traveller and Roma Inclusion Strategy to improve the situation for the Traveller and Roma communities. Phase 1 (identification of key themes for the new Strategy) and Phase 2 (identification and agreement of high level objectives under each agreed theme) of that consultation process have been completed. The final phase, Phase 3 (identification of detailed actions to achieve each agreed objective, with associated time-scales, key performance indicators, institutional responsibilities and monitoring arrangements), has commenced and will conclude with submission of a final draft version of a new Inclusion Strategy to Government. This process will provide a new set of specific actions that need to be taken to bring about a real improvement in quality of life for Travellers and Roma. It is intended that the revised Inclusion Strategy will run from 2016 to 2020 and that it will be in place later this year.
The issue of recognition of Travellers as an ethnic group is being considered in the context of the development of the Inclusion Strategy. When I spoke recently at the Traveller Pride awards, I stressed that we need to broaden the discussion on this issue. The debate needs to be taken forward in an inclusive way, explaining what is involved to mainstream Irish society and bringing the settled community along with Travellers on the issue. My officials are continuing to work with the national Traveller organisations on this matter and I intend this will be a priority for me over the coming months.
41. Deputy Kevin O'Keeffe asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will expedite the issuing of a visa for a person (details supplied) which has already been approved but not yet issued. [15159/16]
View answerI am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the visa application referred to by the Deputy was received by the Irish Visa Office in New Delhi on 13/05/2016. The application was approved on 31/05/2016 and the completed application was returned to the applicant on 01/06/2016.
The Deputy may wish to note that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
In addition, applicants may themselves e-mail queries directly to the Visa Office in New Delhi (newdelhivisaoffice@dfa.ie).
42. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the Bills she will reinitiate relevant to her Department from the previous Dáil Éireann; the Bills she will introduce in the coming sessions; when she will introduce each Bill; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15196/16]
View answerI would refer the Deputy to the Government Legislation Programme which was published this week and which contains all of the available information sought by the Deputy.
43. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if acceptance of the offer under the restorative justice scheme requires the person (details supplied) to acknowledge that the circumstances of the time in an institution is correct, when the person knows that not to be the case, for the purposes of accepting the award; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15301/16]
View answerI can advise the Deputy that the processing of all applications to the Magdalene Laundries Restorative Justice Ex Gratia Scheme starts off on the premise that the testimony of the applicant is correct and the officers processing the application then seek to verify the application by checking appropriate records. If there are records and they are consistent with the application, then an offer is made.
If there is a discrepancy, or in cases where the religious congregations have an incomplete or no record for an applicant, my officials must carry out a thorough examination, checking whatever records are available from other departments, agencies and institutions to support the application. The records of the religious congregations are not regarded as decisive; they are just one factor that is taken into consideration.
In some instances applicants will have a very clear recollection and records will be found to confirm their recollection. In other instances applicants may have difficulty in recollecting details and may be mistaken about the institutions they were in and also about the period of time that they spent there. This is not surprising since the Scheme concerns events that may go back 50, 60 and 70 years.
Each application is assessed on an individual basis taking into account any available records, documents and statements including the applicant's testimony. If the applicant disagrees with the assessment she can, in the first instance, seek a review of her cases by a senior officer. If the applicant disagrees with the Reviewer's decision she can request an independent review of her case by the Ombudsman's Office.
The applicant in question availed of both the internal review process and the independent review by the Ombudsman's Office and the decision of the Restorative Justice implementation Team was upheld in each case. In accepting an offer the applicant agrees to participate in the scheme and also signs a statutory declaration waiving any right of action against the State or any public or statutory body or agency arising out of the circumstances of her application. I can advise the Deputy that if this applicant has accepted the offer and if evidence is found at a later stage that she was in the relevant institutions for a longer period of time her case would be reviewed.
I am aware that this applicant is in touch with my officials in the Restorative Justice Implementation Unit and they will continue to assist her in a sensitive and confidential manner.
44. Deputy Louise O'Reilly asked the Minister for Finance the revenue that would be raised by introducing a sugar tax on sugary drinks, as proposed by the Irish Heart Foundation (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15124/16]
View answerThe Programme for a Partnership Government states that increased public spending and reductions in personal taxes will be funded through, among other things, a new tax on sugar sweetened drinks.
I would draw the Deputy's attention to the General Excise Duties Tax Strategy Group papers of 2014 and 2015 which examine issues surrounding a tax on sugar sweetened drinks. These papers are available on my Department's website. The TSG papers outline the advantages of imposing a volumetric tax, rather than an ad valorem tax of 20% as initially proposed by the Irish Heart Foundation. A volumetric tax is imposed as a specific amount per litre of product, as opposed to an ad valorem rate imposed on the final retail price of product. As a volumetric tax would be based on the volume of the actual product rather than its price, it is applied evenly to multipacks, large volume SSD bottles and cheaper 'own-brand' SSD products, as it is to more expensive branded products, and therefore is more effective from a public health point of view. France, Hungary, Finland and Belgium all impose volumetric taxes on SSD, and the UK proposes to introduce a volumetric tax on sugar sweetened drinks from April 2018.
The revenue raised by such a tax will depend on, among other things, the rate at which it is set, and the types of drinks included within its scope. These issues are budgetary matters which will be determined through the budgetary process.
45. Deputy Niall Collins asked the Minister for Finance the number directly and indirectly employed in Irish companies and projects that the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund has invested in by county in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15280/16]
View answerThe legislation which provided for the establishment of ISIF, the NTMA (Amendment) Act 2014, requires ISIF to include an assessment of its impact on economic activity and employment and the distribution of its investments on a regional basis in its reporting.
I can inform the Deputy that the Ireland Strategic Investment Fund (ISIF) recently published an update on the economic impact and details of its investments in 108 Irish companies and projects. The report, which is available on ISIF's website, includes a breakdown of employment for Dublin and also by province and covers the period up to end-December 2015. The companies supported by ISIF's investment activity employ 17,940 people split approximately between 11,782 directly and 6,158 indirectly. Sixty percent of the jobs supported are outside Dublin.
Information on the economic impact of ISIF's investment, including employment, is, with the exception of Dublin, reported on a province basis in order to avoid inadvertently identifying commercially sensitive information of underlying investees.
The following table provides a breakdown of the employment supported by ISIF's investment activities split between Dublin and the four provinces:
Table 1.
|
Total Employment by Region |
||
|
Dublin |
7,202 |
40.1% |
|
Leinster ex-Dublin |
2,991 |
16.7% |
|
Connacht |
1,073 |
6.0% |
|
Munster |
6,211 |
34.6% |
|
Ulster |
463 |
2.6% |
|
Total |
17,940 |
100.0% |
