Written Answers Nos. 168-188
168. Deputy Marc MacSharry asked the Minister for Justice when decisions will be made in respect of visa applications for nurses who have already obtained work permits to work in the State and are urgently required to fill nursing positions in a nursing home (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3287/24]
View answerI am happy to inform the Deputy that, following full consideration by a Visa Officer, the visa applications referred to were issued on 17 January 2024 and 22 January 2024.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility (inisoireachtasmail@justice.ie) 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 is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
169. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Justice the percentage of social media videos posted on her Departmental social media accounts or the social media accounts of public bodies and agencies that operate under her remit, that included closed captioning/subtitling and Irish sign language translations between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, inclusive. [3368/24]
View answerI am informed that between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, 46% of posts made on my Department's social media accounts contained video in some format. Of the total amount of videos posted 97% included text-based content and/or captioning/subtitles. Irish Sign Language (ISL) was not used, however, there is an ISL translator at all live-streamed events.
The social platforms in use by my Department during this period were Twitter (now X), Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
I have sought the information requested by the Deputy from the agencies under the remit of my Department. Those who used video on their social media channels have provided the details set out below. I am informed that public bodies or agencies generally provide closed captioning or subtitling rather than Irish Sign Language (ISL) for social media videos.
An Garda Síochána
An Garda Síochána produced and published 72 videos to its Social media channels in 2023.Of these, 55 were fully subtitled which equates to 76 % of total videos produced and published.
Garda Síochána Inspectorate
The Garda Inspectorate posted four videos on Twitter/X and three videos on YouTube in 2023. Four of those videos were text based and did not require closed captioning. The remaining three videos included closed captioning.
The Policing Authority
The Policing Authority published eight videos to its YouTube channel in 2023. All videos included subtitles/closed captions.
Legal Aid Board
100% of the Legal Aid Board's social media videos included close captioning/subtitling during 2023.
Insolvency Service Ireland (ISI)
ISI posted seven videos to social media in 2023 on YouTube and Facebook. Four of these included closed captioning (YouTube only) which equates to 57%. Use of Irish Sign Language (ISL) is planned for 2024.
Data Protection Commission (DPC)
One video was posted on the DPC’s social media channels in 2023. This did not have closed captioning/subtitling.
170. Deputy Thomas Pringle asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his views on whether electronic training collars should be banned for dogs, as is being discussed by the Advisory Council for Companion Animal Welfare; whether they can be used as part of the management of dogs to protect against attacks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3106/24]
View answerUnder the Animal Health and Welfare Act 2013, a person is prohibited from causing unnecessary pain or suffering or endangering the health and welfare of any animal. The Act also provides that a person having possession of an animal must ensure that the animal is kept in a manner that safeguards its health and welfare. All legislation under the remit of my Department is kept under constant review, including legislation to ensure the health and welfare of canines.
The use of remotely controlled electronic shock collars in dogs and cats has been banned in several European countries on the grounds of animal welfare.
The Advisory Council on Companion Animal Welfare, which I established under an independent chair as part of my Department's wider animal welfare strategy, advises me on such matters and are considering the question of whether the use of these devices on dogs and cats ought to be banned in Ireland and are inviting submissions from stakeholders on this question, by email, to animalwelfare@agriculture.gov.ie, before 16th February 2024. This is an extension of three weeks to the date originally stated.
171. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to review correspondence (details supplied) and offer advice in this case. [3170/24]
View answerMy Department is aware of this case and has been in regular contact with the named person.
I fully appreciate that obtaining a ward of court is a significant burden, but payment entitlements are an asset and my Department cannot transfer one person's asset to another without their permission.
My Department has been advised that the transferor in this case is not in a position to sign the transferor signature confirmation form herself. In such cases they have to look for either power of attorney or ward of court in order to protect the vulnerable person and their assets. As neither is in place for this transferor, staff in my Department are not permitted to process the transfer application.
The named person has been advised of this and has been reassured that the payment entitlements will not be lost if appropriate documentation to confirm the transfer is produced at a later date. They have also been given details of the Decision Support Service by staff in my Department, in case they may have additional information which could assist those involved.
I trust that this clarifies the position for you.
172. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide figures for the number of staff directly employed in his Department who work from home/remotely as part of their working week; the percentage of staff on an overall basis who work from home at least one day a week; the number of working hours on average per week that staff in his Department work from home; the gender breakdown of those who avail of the opportunity to work from home/remotely; if they will provide the figures for 2022 and 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3231/24]
View answerMy Department is committed to embracing opportunities for remote and blended working, to build a more dynamic, agile and responsive Civil Service, while sustaining strong standards of performance and high levels of productivity. I believe that blended working can increase flexibility, improve health and wellbeing, and add to the range of work-life balance initiatives it can offer to staff.
The table below shows the number of staff directly employed by my Department who worked from home as part of their working week in December 2022 and December 2023. The gender breakdown of the staff working remotely in December 2022 and December 2023 is also provided in the table below.
|
2022 |
|
|
|
2023 |
|
|
|
|
No. of Staff |
Percentage |
|
|
No. of Staff |
Percentage |
|
Remote Working |
1553 |
39.60% |
|
Remote Working |
1672 |
41.73% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gender Breakdown of the above figure |
|
|
|
Gender Breakdown of the above figure |
|
|
|
Female |
847 |
21.60% |
|
Female |
920 |
22.96% |
|
Male |
522 |
13.31% |
|
Male |
578 |
14.42% |
|
No gender selected by employee |
184 |
4.69% |
|
No gender selected by employee |
174 |
4.34% |
On remote days staff in my Department are required to work their 7hrs per day and must be on duty during core hours. My Department is committed to facilitating blended working where practical, however, not all roles may be suitable for blended working due to the nature of the work.
173. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine to provide figures for the number of staff directly employed in agencies and bodies directly under his aegis who work from home/remotely as part of their working week; the percentage of staff on an overall basis who work from home at least one day a week; the number of working hours on average per week that staff in relevant agencies and bodies work from home; the gender breakdown of those who avail of the opportunity to work from home/remotely; if he will provide the figures for 2022 and 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3249/24]
View answerRegarding the State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information requested is an operational matter for the State Bodies themselves.
I have referred this query to the State Bodies under the aegis of my Department and have asked that they respond directly on the matter.
174. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine his assessment of the likely impact of new United Kingdom import controls; the action by his Department in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3352/24]
View answerOn 31 January, the UK is introducing new import controls on goods from the EU, including Ireland.
There are three significant changes which Irish exporters to GB and their supply chain partners must meet from this date:
Full UK customs import declarations must be lodged on the UK customs systems in advance of all goods entering GB.
All animal products and all high and medium risk plant products imported to GB must be pre-notified on UK food and feed import system, by the GB importer of the goods or their GB based agent.
For animal and plant products which have been categorised as high or medium risk by the UK, they will require export health certification.
The Government including my Department continues to support agri-food businesses in preparing for these new UK import requirements which are a direct consequence of Brexit.
These preparations have included:
• Extensive information/communications plan including information webinars, engagement with stakeholder groups, circulation of information and guidance to over 1,000 businesses involved in the agri-food sector supply chain, a whole of government media awareness campaign.
• Comprehensive training programmes for food businesses on export health certification processes and the EU TRACES IT system;
• Detailed resource planning to support certification including recruitment and deployment of appropriate veterinary and technical certifying resources;
• Direct and intensive engagement between local competent authority supervisory teams with individual Food businesses to agree processes to meet UK requirements.
• Engagement with UK authorities to bring clarity to UK requirements and how they will be implemented.
The new UK import requirements do present significant changes for Irish exporters and the EU-UK trading environment and will require food businesses, their logistics providers and GB customers to adapt the current supply chains to meet the new UK requirements.
My department and the Government will continue to carefully monitor the impact of the new requirements, and will continue to support businesses in meeting the new UK import requirements including the additional UK border entry controls which will be phased by UK authorities later in 2024.
175. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine the percentage of social media videos posted on his Departmental social media accounts or the social media accounts of public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit, that included closed captioning/subtitling and Irish sign language translations between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, inclusive. [3357/24]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that in 2023 94.7% of videos posted on my Department’s social media accounts included closed captions / subtitles. There were no videos posted during 2023 that included Irish sign language translations.
As regards the State Bodies under the aegis of my Department, the information requested is an operational matter for the State Bodies themselves.
I have referred the Deputy’s question to the Agencies and have requested that a response should issue within 10 days.
176. Deputy Niamh Smyth asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth what mechanisms are in place for families to access funds needs for the care of a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3156/24]
View answerThe Decision Support Service (DSS) is the organisation charged with operating the provisions of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015 (the 2015 Act), and as such are required to respond to the complex decision-making needs of people with capacity difficulties.
Where persons lack decision-making capacity and require decision-making supports to meet their ongoing needs, they can seek to put in place a decision support arrangement under the Act. This includes persons who are already availing of the Fair Deal scheme, via the Nursing Home Support Scheme Act 2009.
Persons can avail of different decision support arrangements by making an application for the appropriate tier of support. The DSS can support the making of applications, and can advise how to make an application, what steps need to be taken, and what documents need to be provided. The approach to be taken, and the tier of appropriate support, will depend on the specific circumstances of an applicant and the DSS will be able to offer assistance to persons seeking to access supports.
The DSS may be contacted directly for information regarding the making of an application and they endeavour to process all applications in a timely manner, and to respond to all queries relating to applications made under the 2015 Act. The DSS operate a website decisionsupportservice.ie/ which contains a portal for applications, and can be contacted at 01-2119750.
In some cases for higher tiered supports support needs or where urgent decisions may need to be made an application to the appropriate Circuit Court may be required. The Courts Service can provide information on how to make an application to the Circuit Court under Part 5 of the 2015 Act, stipulating which Circuit the application should be made to, which forms need to be completed, and what documents and evidence are required to support the application.
The Courts Service has information on making a Part 5 application here: courts.ie/assisted-decision-making-circuit-court and the relevant Circuit Court can be contacted, depending on the applicable Circuit in which you are making an application.
Parliamentary queries can also be sent to the Decision Support Service through publicaffairs@decisionsupportservice.ie.
177. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number on waiting lists (details supplied), in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3195/24]
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.
The Deputy will be aware that due to the ongoing industrial action by FORSA administrative and management grade staff in the HSE (which commenced on 6 October, 2023), delays remain in receiving answers to parliamentary questions and ministerial representations.
The HSE has been engaged with Forsa through the auspices of the WRC in an effort to resolve the dispute but a resolution has not been reached as of yet.
178. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when a decision will be made on the ongoing funding to support a major provider of community services to people with disabilities and their families (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3268/24]
View answer179. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he is aware of the funding crisis within St. John of God Community Services; if he will instruct the HSE to deliver unequivocal confirmation of the funding required to both address the deficit and maintain the financial and operational sustainability of services prior to the scheduled 25 January meeting (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3375/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 178 and 179 together.
St John of God Community Services delivers essential disability and mental health services on a daily basis up and down the country. I want to acknowledge the challenging nature of this work and the high quality services provided by its staff.A Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) process between the HSE and Saint John of God Community Services has been substantially concluded. In recent days, the Board of St John of God Community Services has requested specific proposals from the HSE to address the financial and operational sustainability of its Community Services.It has indicated that without agreement on a way forward the organisation may be required to commence the process to transfer responsibility for service provision to the HSE.At the outset, I wish to emphasise that St John of God Community Services has not made any decision to transfer its services to the HSE, and neither organisation wants that as an outcome. Most importantly, the HSE has arranged to meet with St John of God Community Services in advance of their Board meeting of 25th January to further progress matters. In the interim, the HSE has confirmed that it will continue to financially support the service - as it has done throughout the SIA process - to meet its financial liabilities on an ongoing basis.This protects the continuity of services and ensures St John of God Community Services remains solvent and compliant with financial and accounting regulations.
More broadly, it is recognised that several voluntary providers of specialist disability services are in a weakened financial state as a result of complex historical arrangements, and current and emerging service delivery costs and pressures.
The financial challenges facing the voluntary sector are highly complex, arising from both historical issues around funding arrangements as well as emerging challenges due to changing profile of user need, higher safety and quality standards and general demographic pressures.
The HSE is committed to finding innovative solutions to these systemic challenges by continuing to work with the service providers, their staffs and service users. This is evident in the valuable work undertaken in the Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) of Saint John of God Community Services, underpinned by a partnership approach to problem solving adopted by the provider and HSE.
The HSE will identify systemic learnings from the SIA process as it works to deliver more efficient and effective models of service delivery. Opportunities to improve governance and performance across the sector will also be identified. In this way, the commitment of time and resources to the SIA process will enhance the ability of person-centred community services to sustainably meet service user needs.
The Government is working to progressively address these challenges. The Disability Capacity review in 2021 was an important step in mapping out and acknowledging the levels of unmet need in the sector. The recently published Disability Action Plan sets out our ambition for reform and expansion of disability services over the next three years.
This Government has demonstrated its continuing commitment to people with disabilities with increasing levels of funding since with a record €2.9 billion being provided in 2024 for specialist services, including €64m under the first year of the Disability Action Plan.
Alongside this significant investment, there remains a requirement to better understand operational and structural challenges being experienced across the sector.
180. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when he will bring forward the regulation to extend the duration of parental leave as was announced as part of Budget 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3100/24]
View answerCurrently, seven weeks Parent's Leave and Benefit is available to all eligible parents of children born or adopted from 1 November 2019. The leave and benefit must be availed of within the first two years of the child’s life or adoptive placement.
In line with the EU Work-Life Balance Directive, Parent’s Leave and Benefit is required to increase by an additional two weeks to nine weeks by August 2024.
In Budget 2024, the Government provided for the number of weeks of Parent's Leave and Benefit available to eligible parents to be increased from seven weeks to nine weeks from August 2024.
The additional two weeks leave and benefit will be introduced by way of a regulation under the Parent's Leave and Benefits Act 2019 prior to that date. The Department of Social Protection is responsible for the associated changes to Parent's Benefit for the increased period of leave.
Details on the date on which the regulation will be brought forward will be made known as soon as possible once timelines for its finalisation have been confirmed.
181. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on the plans for the development of the Sean McDermott Street Magdalene Laundry; the timelines for the project; the timing of the availability of the detailed design of the project; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3136/24]
View answerIn March 2022 Government approved high level proposals for the National Centre for Research and Remembrance to be located on the site of the former Magdalen Laundry in Sean McDermott Street, Dublin 1 to comprise:
• a museum and exhibition space, the development of which will be led by the National Museum of Ireland
• a research centre and repository of records related to institutional trauma in the 20th century, which will form part of the National Archives
• a place for reflection and remembrance
• social housing
• educational and community facilities
A Steering Group, chaired by Mr Martin Fraser, former Secretary General to the Government and Ambassador to the United Kingdom, was established in April 2022 and is driving the overall coordinated development of the National Centre.
In July 2022, Dublin City Council voted to transfer the site of the former Magdalen Laundry at Sean McDermott Street to the OPW, to be developed as the National Centre. The OPW is continuing essential maintenance works on the site to facilitate safe and full access and necessary building surveys.
In July 2023 Government approved the masterplan for the National Centre campus as well as the preliminary business case for the main National Centre building structures - the museum, research centre and repository. Government also approved, in principle, proposals for the wider National Centre campus as follows:
• social housing, configured to universal design standards and appropriate to the needs of older persons and persons with disabilities within the North East Inner City;
• the development of a lifelong learning hub for the provision of further and higher education and;
• facilities for the provision of community-based family and parenting supports.
The masterplan for the site can be viewed on the National Centre website: www.gov.ie/nationalcentre.
In approving the masterplan, Government also approved plans for an initial public consultation on specific elements of the Centre. This consultation ran from July to September 2023. Responses from the consultation, which are currently being analysed, will directly inform the ongoing work on the development of the National Centre. Further targeted consultations on specific elements of the National Centre will take place in due course with updates posted on the National Centre website.
The development of the National Centre is multi-annual in nature and is currently in the planning stages. Under the auspices of the Steering Group, extensive work is continuing on the development of a detailed and costed project plan including timelines for development, with a number of Government departments and agencies - including the national cultural institutions - acting in partnership.
As the planning phase progresses, Government will be in a position to provide an indicative timeline for the project.
182. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide figures for the number of staff directly employed in his Department who work from home/remotely as part of their working week; the percentage of staff on an overall basis who work from home at least one day a week; the number of working hours on average per week that staff in his Department work from home; the gender breakdown of those who avail of the opportunity to work from home/remotely; if they will provide the figures for 2022 and 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3232/24]
View answerMy Department has implemented a Blended Working Policy which currently requires a minimum of two days attendance onsite as mandatory. This is pro-rated for staff on a reduced working pattern. Formal applications for blended working opened in my Department on 29 August 2022.
The end of year breakdown of the staff availing of blended working for 2022 and 2023 is as follows:
2022
|
Gender |
Availing of Blended Working |
% Availing of Blended Working |
|
Female |
298 |
85% |
|
Male |
220 |
82% |
|
Total |
518 |
83% |
2023
|
Gender |
Availing of Blended Working |
% Availing of Blended Working |
|
Female |
311 |
72% |
|
Male |
224 |
65% |
|
Total |
535 |
69% |
183. Deputy Ged Nash asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide figures for the number of staff directly employed in agencies and bodies directly under his aegis who work from home/remotely as part of their working week; the percentage of staff on an overall basis who work from home at least one day a week; the number of working hours on average per week that staff in relevant agencies and bodies work from home; the gender breakdown of those who avail of the opportunity to work from home/remotely; if he will provide the figures for 2022 and 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3250/24]
View answerI wish to advise the Deputy that my officials have asked the respective aegis bodies under my Department to respond directly to you on these matters.
184. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth has entered into any contracts with an accommodation provider (details supplied) to provide accommodation for refugees or Ukrainian citizens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3301/24]
View answerMy Department is involved in negotiations with a range of accommodation providers across Ireland, and has received an offer of accommodation from the provider to which the Deputy refers. This offer is being evaluated to determine if it meets my Department's requirements.
Due to the commercial sensitivities involved, it is not possible to provide information on the negotiations with any individual provider.
185. Deputy Neasa Hourigan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the percentage of social media videos posted on his Departmental social media accounts or the social media accounts of public bodies and agencies that operate under his remit, that included closed captioning/subtitling and Irish sign language translations between 1 January 2023 and 31 December 2023, inclusive. [3358/24]
View answerThe information requested is available publicly via my Department's social media accounts and the social media accounts of agencies under the remit of this Department.
186. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health how many times he has referred Parliamentary Questions to the HSE for response to Deputies directly in each of the past twelve months; how many times the HSE has issued responses to the Deputies who submitted the questions; if a specific breakdown can be provided in the case of this Deputy; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3102/24]
View answerThe HSE, January to December 2023, received from the Department of Health a total of 7,077 PQs for direct reply to Deputies.
Of the 7,077 PQs received the HSE has issued replies to 5,852 (83%) of the Deputies questions.
In respect of Deputy Peadar Tóibín, the HSE received a total of 91 PQs for direct reply. Of the 91 PQs received the HSE has issued replies to 82 of them.
Since the commencement of the industrial action on 6th of October 2023 to the end of December 2023 a total of 1,393 PQs due for reply remain to be responded to.
Note: All PQs received have been allocated out to the areas for answer but due to the FORSA Industrial Action no replies are issuing as Parliamentary business is one of the areas affected by the dispute.
187. Deputy Barry Cowen asked the Minister for Health for an update on the case of a person (details supplied); and when they can expect an appointment with a surgeon in Tallaght University Hospital. [3110/24]
View answerUnder the Health Act 2004, the Health Service Executive (HSE) is required to manage and deliver, or arrange to be delivered on its behalf, health and personal social services. Section 6 of the HSE Governance Act 2013 bars the Minister for Health from directing the HSE to provide a treatment or a personal service to any individual or to confer eligibility on any individual.
In relation to the particular query raised, as this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
As the Deputy may be aware, management and administrative grade staff in the Fórsa union in the HSE commenced industrial action on Friday 6th October 2023. As a consequence of this industrial action, members in these grades are not engaging with political forums or processes.
As a result, the question asked by the Deputy may be delayed in receiving a response directly from the HSE.
188. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Health to provide a breakdown of the allocation of funding for 2024 to each meals on wheels service in receipt of HSE funding, by name of service and by county; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3112/24]
View answerAs this is an operational matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
As the Deputy may be aware, management and administrative grade staff in the Fórsa union in the HSE commenced industrial action on Friday, 6 October. As a consequence of this industrial action, members in these grades are not engaging with political forums or processes. As a result, the question asked by the Deputy may be delayed in receiving a response directly from the HSE.
