Vol. 1033 No. 2
60. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth his plans to change the legal status of childminders, which would make possible the future regulation of childminders and allow for access to the national childcare scheme to be opened in future to parents who use registered childminders; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6393/23]
My question relates to the childminder situation. What are the Minister's plans to change the legal status of childminders, which would make possible the future regulation of childminders and allow access to the national childcare scheme to be opened in future to parents who use registered childminders? I ask for more information on that.
I thank the Deputy. Many childminders are currently excluded from registration and, therefore, from the national childcare scheme because of exemptions in the Child Care Act 1991. To bring all childminders within the scope of registration and the national childcare scheme subsidies requires an amendment to this Act.
Childminding offers many benefits to children and parents but until now it has received little formal recognition by the State. It has remained at the margins of funding, support and regulation, despite its many advantages and its continued popularity among parents. I know that many parents who use childminders are keen for these measures to be taken as quickly as possible, in order that they can benefit from the significant increase in national childcare scheme subsidies I introduced at the start of January this year.
That is welcome. I have often spoken on this matter. Childminders are invaluable. Theirs is the service I used due to the nature of my current work and when I previously worked for a trade union, where the hours are so uncertain. Many people are in that situation, including those doing shift work or not doing the traditional 9 to 5 hours. There are so many roles like that where childminders are invaluable. It would be great to bring them into the system. Will that have to go through the whole legislative process or will it be done through a simple amendment? Is that legislation envisaged for this year? What would the difference be? There is obviously significant regulation in this area. Nobody has a difficulty with that for centre-based childcare but regulation would have to be fair to both childminders and centre-based childcare in order that there are not two totally different sets of regulations, even though I recognise childminding is different, as we all do. In order that it is fair, is it envisaged that the subsidy will be the same for both types of childcare? Has that been looked at yet?
We are planning to bring forward proposals for changes to the Child Care Act 1991 to Cabinet by the end of quarter 1. Those will be quite substantial and will include revising the law in the area of the taking of children into care because the 1991 legislation needs to be changed. Tusla's powers of inspection for centre-based childcare will also be included within that legislation. We will add a power in that the Minister will be given the power to create regulations for childminders. It is to be hoped, all things going well and working well with the committee the Deputy chairs, we might get that legislation passed by the end of this year or possibly early next year.
We are also engaging with childminding groups. I met with Childminding Ireland, the largest representative group for childminders, two weeks ago. We are engaging with childminders on the scope of these regulations. We need a regulatory structure. That is correct in assuring quality for children and parents but we also need to recognise, as the Deputy said, that childminding in the home is different to centre-based childcare.
This is good. It would be great to complete the legislation this year in order that it could come into force next year. Those of us familiar with this sector have often wondered how to encourage more people to register. I have always thought there is sometimes a fear that, all of a sudden, somebody who has been childminding for years but was not registered believes there will be some sort of backlash.
These proposals, therefore, are good. It is timely that people would get the subsidy. It is great for parents not to be reliant on centre-based childcare. We also know about, and often talk here about, the capacity of centre-based childcare at the moment. If childminders can avail of this scheme too, it will be beneficial.
The other point I wanted to make, which the Minister kind of covered, was about the consultation. I know that Childminding Ireland is the significant group in that regard, but the regulations should be drafted in consultation with it. Any input from parents or advocacy groups would also be helpful.
I had a good meeting with Childminding Ireland three weeks ago, and earlier this week I wrote to it on foot of that meeting. Not only did I write to it but I also asked it to distribute a letter from me across childminders in its network setting out what we are doing with the childminding action plan and what the next steps are. I know, even from a couple of emails I got when the announcement was made last year, that there is some fear among childminders as to what we are seeking to do.
I think everyone agrees that this is a positive step. We are looking to create childminder-specific regulations, different from the regulatory structure for centre-based childcare. There will be an open registration process to encourage childminders to sign up and to register. We know that this is new and different and will be a change for many of them. Once they register, however, the big plus in all this, as well as being able to assure quality, is to give parents the benefit of the cuts to fees. Parents who use childminders will get the same benefit of the cuts we achieved for parents who use centre-based childcare from 1 January of this year. I think that is something we all wish to achieve.
61. Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will outline the changes he plans to implement in order to improve and to fulfil the rights of children and adults with disabilities, specifically in respect of access to assessment of need, AON, tests and required services come 1 March 2023, when the remit will transfer to his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6396/23]
Will the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth outline the changes he plans to implement in order to improve and to fulfil the rights of children and adults with disabilities, specifically in respect of access to assessment of need tests and required services come 1 March 2023, when the remit will transfer to his Department, and will he make a statement on the matter?
I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte.
A Government decision in December 2022 confirmed that the transfer of policy, functions and funding responsibility relating to specialist community-based disability services from the Minister for Health to me, as Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, would take place on 1 March of this year.
The colocation of disability equality policy and community-based disability services functions in a single Department from 1 March will facilitate strategic policy development, including the implementation of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, UNCRPD, and the advancement of the disability capacity review through the Action Plan for Disability Services. This will ultimately enhance the fulfilment of the rights of children and adults with disabilities in respect of a number of critical UNCRPD articles.
As for assessment of need specifically, I am committed to delivering real and tangible solutions to enhance services. I will focus on addressing challenges as regards the resourcing of children's disability network teams and implementing effectively the progressing disability services programme in order to target long waiting lists and to enable the provision of timely and appropriate therapies.
The revised assessment of needs standard operating procedure, once approved, will be implemented with a clear focus on clearing the assessment of need backlog, although it is important to note that children do not require an assessment of need under the Disability Act to access health services. Many children in receipt of therapy services have not gone through the assessment of need process.
It is anticipated that the interim clinical guidance will be finalised shortly. The HSE has been allocated funding in budget 2023 to facilitate additional assessments through a suite of measures, including the establishment of dedicated assessment of need teams, private procurement, overtime initiatives for existing staff and the recruitment of administrative resources to free up therapists in order to assist with assessments of need.
Families of children with autism and moderate learning disabilities, dual diagnoses, are in crisis in counties Louth and Meath. I am aware of 15 families who have adolescent children with autism and moderate learning disabilities who urgently require a psychiatrist's review while being told by the HSE that that service is unavailable as there are no psychiatrists on the HSE team. In addition to no psychiatrists being available, the only paediatrician available in Louth and Meath is Dr. Maeve McCormack. Dr. McCormack will see only children who are 16 years of age or younger. There is a four- to five-month waiting list to see Dr. McCormack. CAMHS will not see teenagers who have a dual diagnosis, while these adolescent children cannot be seen by mental health teams until they are 18 years old.
Assessment of need is a statutory process under the Disability Act 2005, whereby the Health Service Executive reports on the health needs and, more recently, the education of a child. That is not being done. There is a loophole. We need a bit of help. I have raised this with the Minister and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, over recent years and we are getting nowhere with it. Our health service is in crisis. If a child goes into an accident and emergency department or a hospital and there is a sudden diagnosis of a disability, nobody wants to look after the child. The child is left in limbo. The family is left in limbo.
I know that the Deputy has advocated very strongly on these issues. I am looking forward, from 1 March, to taking on the responsibility for delivery of disability services for children and adults. The Deputy is absolutely right about the crucial issue of the assessment of needs. He knows the history of this. He knows that a new process had been adopted over a number of years. That was challenged in the courts. That process was found not to meet the requirements under the Disability Act, and that requires a reassessment of a very significant number of children and a new assessment process to be in place. We want to ensure that the new assessment process meets fully the criteria of the Disability Act. We do not want this same thing happening again. That is what is taking place now. There is an understanding in not only clinical terms but also legal terms that the new standard operating procedure for the assessment of needs is clinically and legally robust. That will allow us to tackle the backlog and, going forward, will allow children newly presenting to seek assessments of need.
The Minister knows and I know that the suicide rate in Ireland is probably one of the highest in Europe. I have parents coming to my office regularly. They go to CAMHS and everybody is trying to help, but they are not getting the help. What happens, as I mentioned a few weeks ago, is that parents end up taking their children to accident and emergency departments. If the child is 16 years of age, he or she is put into an acute ward. Then, all of a sudden, the child is in limbo. People automatically think that if they contact a Deputy, a Senator or someone else involved in politics, that person will be able to help. We cannot help. The amount of money being spent in the HSE at the moment is unreal. What do we tell parents who come in to us and whose children are self-harming, with suicidal thoughts and everything else? Where do they go? They go to CAMHS and, especially if they have some kind of disability, they have nowhere else to go. They come in to us looking for a bit of help. We come here to ask the Department for help. This has been going on for a long time. We have been told that even some accident and emergency departments are supposed to have special services for people under the age of 18 who do present as suicidal. It is not happening. What system can the Minister put in place that will help parents who come in to us in order that we can comfort them and tell them the system will work? It is not working.
I am not trying to avoid responsibility but, for the sake of clarity, CAMHS will not be moving over to my Department. CAMHS will continue to fall within the remit of the Department of Health. It is not moving over with community-based specialist services. I do, however, take the Deputy's point about the issue of dual diagnosis, that is, cases in which there is a disability diagnosis and a mental health diagnosis as well. It has been an issue that one or two of my constituents have raised. We will have to engage on that with the Department of Health and work with the HSE to give parents absolute clarity as to who takes on the primary responsibility of treatment in that situation.
The Deputy spoke to the staffing pressures he is experiencing in Louth and Meath, and that is a huge issue. We have set up the CDNTs across the country, but too many of them are understaffed. The Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and I, working with the HSE, will bring forward a roadmap on progressing disability services. That will, among other things, seek to tackle the issue of retention and recruitment of staff, which is where the biggest vulnerability is right now. Where we do not have staff, we have backlogs in terms of not only the assessment but also the delivery of those much-needed therapies.
62. Deputy Pauline Tully asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will provide an update on the modular units for Ukrainian families fleeing the war in their country, including a timeframe for the completion and allocation of those units in County Cavan; if he will provide details of the additional resources and supports being put in place in Cavan in advance of, and in conjunction with, the allocation of those units; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6427/23]
Will the Minister provide an update on the proposed modular units for Ukrainian families fleeing the war in their country, including the timeframe for the completion and allocation of those units in County Cavan? Will he provide details of the additional resources and supports being put in place in Cavan in advance of, and in conjunction with, the allocation of those units?
Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February of last year, my Department has continued to work as part of the whole-of-government response, with a focus on meeting the immediate accommodation needs of those fleeing the conflict. To date the State has provided accommodation to more than 55,000 beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive.
In response to the crisis, the Government has sought to provide a range of accommodation solutions in every county in Ireland, including Cavan. As part of this considerable national effort, the Government has approved the construction of 700 rapid-build homes on State-owned land, which will aim to provide accommodation to 2,800 individuals in family units. The Office of Public Works, OPW, is supporting the development of the rapid-build accommodation in conjunction with my Department. The OPW and my Department are currently rolling out the first phase of the programme of rapid-build homes on sites identified in Cork, Cavan, Tipperary, Sligo and Mayo. The installation of some of the homes has begun and this work will continue over the coming months. A comprehensive communications approach has been applied for each of the sites that have been identified for the first phase. The site in Cavan, on OPW land off the Farnham Road, was identified as having capacity for 28 units. It is planned that all works on the Cavan site will be completed at the beginning of April and people will start to move into the homes in mid to late April.
My Department is working with other Departments and agencies on the additional needs that will arise. We work closely with the Department of Health in relation to the healthcare needs of displaced people from Ukraine. The HSE has been notified of the proposed number of residents for each site and the associated potential healthcare needs. The Department of Education has put in place regional education and language teams, REALTs, to help Ukrainian families find schools. If the local school does not have enough places, alternative arrangements will be made to bring children to schools close by. In addition, funding from the €50 million community recognition fund in the Department of Rural and Community Development will be allocated to projects in the local area under the direction of Cavan County Council.
I thank the Minister. A briefing that we received from the Minister and his Department indicated that the rapid-build homes would be in place by the end of last year. Initially the number for Cavan was 60. This was reduced to 28, but that is still 28 additional families. I am concerned that as many hotels that are housing refugees at the moment may not continue to do so past the end of March, there will be more demand for accommodation. Given the level of demand in the housing market, what plans are being put in place to address that issue?
In Cavan there is also considerable demand for preschool places. If children of preschool age arrive into the county, there will not be many places available for them. There is also high demand for secondary school places. I know of one school that already has 100 enrolments above its capacity for next year and that is just one school in the county. That is also happening in other schools, although the problem may reduce as students pick between different schools. Either way, with 28 additional families arriving, we need to ensure the children have school places.
I hear from local resource centres on a regular basis and they are also under pressure to provide services to the community at large and to the refugees that have come to live in the county from Syria and other places. They are lovely people who have integrated well but they need a lot more support.
In terms of education and the provision of school places at primary or secondary level, I am very grateful to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, for acting rapidly to set up REALTs at education and training board, ETB, level. They are there to identify where there is spare capacity, where schools are under pressure and to match that to the needs of Ukrainian children initially, but also of international protection children. That is a good system that is operating well. The REALTs will be closely linked in with the new arrivals in Cavan and other areas to make sure we can secure school places for them.
In terms of the wider pressures, the Deputy is right that there is a risk that there will be greater pressures on the Ukrainian accommodation front going in to the spring. We have the modular accommodation approach, the new vacant homes scheme, and the refurbished home scheme that the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage is undertaking. We will have to examine the situation but a lot depends on how many hotels make a decision to revert to their former tourism use.
Does the Minister consider that there is good cross-departmental co-operation on this issue? We need the Department of Education to assist and we need the Department of Health to ensure there are enough GPs to provide services.
We have seen horrific protests outside accommodation centres, which should not be happening. If people want to protest, they should do so outside the gates of Leinster House and not outside the doors of places where vulnerable people are living. There are people out there with genuine concerns. We need to see a lot more co-operation across all Departments to ensure that the necessary services are put in place.
In a past life I was a teacher. I taught students from many different parts of the world. Some of them came to Cavan as refugees. They brought a rich diversity to the classroom, they integrated well and we were able to accommodate them. There has been a huge increase in numbers since then and there must be a commensurate increase in resources to ensure there is the capacity to integrate them into our communities because that is the only way forward. School and education is a great way of doing that.
I absolutely agree. I have always been upfront in terms of the challenge that the dual crises of Ukrainian and wider migration poses. It is a challenge for the State. Indeed, it is a challenge for all states right now because it puts extra pressure on resources. The Deputy spoke about family resource centres and Tusla, through my Department, has been given an additional allocation to support the response to Ukraine. That can be filtered down to Tusla's front-line services, including family resource centres.
I believe there is good intergovernmental co-operation. The Cabinet committee on Ukraine meets regularly and looks at these various issues. The Department of Education has done very good mapping to identify areas where there is capacity in schools and areas where there is not. Of course, when we are looking for accommodation it is not always possible to mirror that because if there is no hotel accommodation in an area where there is capacity, we are not able to immediately respond to that. We work as closely as we can with the Department of Education to try to align where we are locating Ukrainians with available capacity.
63. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the alternative accommodation that he has in mind for Ukrainian refugees in Killarney and Kerry, given that the tourist season is beckoning. [6338/23]
I am asking this question on behalf of Deputy Danny Healy-Rae. I send my sincere sympathies to Deputies Danny and Michael Healy-Rae on the death of their uncle, Dinny Healy-Rae, a hard-working gentleman who left our shores for New Jersey 60 years ago. He was 90 years of age when he passed away yesterday.
The question is short. What alternative accommodation does the Minister have in mind for the Ukrainian refugees in Killarney and Kerry, given that the tourist season is beckoning?
I also wish to offer my sympathies to both Deputies on the death of their uncle.
My Department is accommodating over 55,000 people from Ukraine, having contracted 42,000 beds in over 700 settings, including in serviced accommodation and other repurposed settings. In County Kerry, communities have welcomed over 6,000 Ukrainians, with almost 1,700 in the Killarney town area. I know that those from Ukraine sincerely appreciate the community support they have received across Kerry and the rest of the country.
Those fleeing Ukraine continue to arrive in Ireland and last week, there was an average of 124 arrivals daily. It remains challenging to provide shelter to all those in need and this is very much the focus across Government. My Department is in negotiations, as contracts expire, with all existing providers to ascertain whether they will continue to provide accommodation for Ukrainians. No provider has definitively indicated the intention to cease services under the new contracts the Department is offering. We will keep this under review and will continue to procure serviced and self-catering accommodation where we can. Although negotiations are ongoing, it is accepted that some providers will choose to revert to the tourism offering shortly and we are preparing for this.
My Department is working urgently across Government with all partners to bring suitable alternative accommodation on board in all areas, including in County Kerry. The State is committed to delivering solutions beyond tourist accommodation and this includes progressing offers of refurbished buildings, the unoccupied homes campaign, pledged accommodation and rapid-build homes on suitable sites. My officials regularly meet representatives of Departments and Fáilte Ireland to discuss issues arising for those in the tourism market and how these can be responded to. The sector's continued support on this is really appreciated.
Ukrainian displaced persons can make their own private arrangements and can avail of State supports to do so, including potentially availing of pledged or vacant accommodation. So far, 6,482 Ukrainians have been accommodated in 2,700 pledged properties around the country.
I thank the Minister for his reply. The situation in Kerry is very worrying. I have heard a lot about it on Radio Kerry and from Deputy Danny Healy-Rae and other Deputies. It is also very worrying in County Cork, where I come from. The tourism season is starting soon and we are trying to promote tourism and continue to do so. It is quite possible that hotels will want to cease their contractual involvement and it is not clear from the Minister's answer that steps have been taken to make sure that the Ukrainians who are in hotels will have alternative accommodation immediately.
They cannot be left on the streets. If this accommodation ends, which is quite likely, we will have a two-tier situation here. If it does not, it will be detrimental to the tourism sector. The Minister might outline more clearly what will happen if this happens.
Undoubtedly, as I said in response to the previous questions, there are challenges here. This is a war-generated crisis and it places a challenge on Ireland and on other countries. As I said, there are a number of clear programmes to provide additional accommodation - modular, refurbishment and the new vacant home scheme - but I am aware of the risk in that regard, particularly in the early part of spring. Those three strands may not accommodate everyone if a significant number of hotels decide to revert to tourism. In that case, we will have to work with local authorities on the standing up of rest centres, which have been hugely beneficial in terms of our response. We will also engage with the third level sector in terms of university accommodation. That was extremely beneficial last year. We will look at all options to make sure we can continue to accommodate all those who we are providing accommodation with at present.
I thank the Minister for his reply. He is talking about a huge number of people who have taken up stays in hotels because of the crisis that we are in. These are legitimate people. There are people coming into this country who are undocumented who, as far as I am concerned, should not be in this country. No one should be in this country unless he or she is fully documented. If I was leaving this country to go to another country, that is the way it would be for me, and in most cases it is. In this situation, unfortunately, there are tens of thousands of people who are undocumented here. The Government is starting to tighten up on it now but the horse has bolted.
If contracts with the hotels end, they probably will not end with them all. I still do not see from the Minister's answers what exactly will be in place for these people if the hotels pull the contracts. As I said earlier, the tourism season is looming. Modular homes are not there. We are talking in a vacuum about homes that are not there at present and it is quite possible these contracts could end in the next few weeks.
In terms of the Deputy's earlier comments, it is important to say that someone arriving in Ireland has a right to claim international protection and often people have to flee a country on fake documents because they are being chased or repressed by a particular regime. If one were looking to flee one's country, if one were an Iranian feminist dissident or something like that, it is unlikely that the Iranian regime would give one an exit paper in which case one may have to flee the country on forged documents. That is an unfortunate consequence of the world we live in.
People have a right to apply and there is a process. We all recognise the process for assessing someone's international protection application has to speed up. At the end of that process, there is a determination. Some people may be granted international protection and some will not. In the latter event, those people will be deported. However, that is the process that works.
It is worth saying - I would have said this to Deputy Healy-Rae - I had a good meeting with the Kerry Community Response Forum with the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, and others, and I heard first hand the amazing work that is happening in Kerry in terms of welcoming both Ukrainians and international protection applicants. It was positive to see that real groundswell all over the county in terms of the support that is being given by community, voluntary and statutory groups.
