Written Answers Nos. 62-66
62. Deputy Billy Timmins asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if performance-related pay has been paid to any of his staff or staff in his Department for the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and to date in 2014; if so, the number of staff; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39390/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI can confirm that no member of staff in my Department has received performance-related pay for the years in question.
63. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the reason pre-school providers (details supplied) are waiting up to six or seven weeks to receive contract payments from his Department; when this will be addressed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39426/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department implements the 3 Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes - the Childcare Education and Training Programme, the Community Employment Childcare programme and the Afterschool Childcare Programme - which provide childcare supports to eligible parents returning to work or to education.
The process involved in making these payments begins when a parent gets a letter from a relevant Department or agency and contacts their local City or County Childcare Committee to access a place in a childcare service. The information relating to these childcare places is then forwarded to the Department for inclusion in the next payment run. The actual payments are processed by Pobal, following receipt of the payment details from my Department. This process of itself involves a delay between the time a child actually takes up a TEC place in an individual childcare service and the processing of a payment.
The result is that when payments are made they will normally involve some element of a back payment and an advance payment. The length of the back payment can vary, but the longest period of back payment normally occurs at this time of year, as the volume of approvals for new children on the programmes is at a peak. This is primarily due to parents starting education or training programmes in September, whose childcare needs are being catered for under the CETS programme.
The Department is acutely aware that the payment process can cause cash-flow problems for services and is currently involved in migrating the payment process for all our programmes into a new on-line database system, to which childcare services will have direct access to input child details. This new system will eliminate delays caused by the transmission of information and will allow for more frequent payments to be made.
It is my intention to review all aspects of the childcare support programmes with a view, inter alia, to ensure that the maximum benefit is provided to parents and children in need of childcare support and that the payment process is streamlined so that providers are in a position to meet their financial deadlines.
64. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on a matter (details supplied) regarding the welfare of children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39437/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraUnder adoption legislation, when a child is registered on the Register of Adoption the child is deemed to be the fully legal child of the adoptive parent/couple, having the same legal status as any biological child of the couple born to them within their marriage. Accordingly, the Child and Family Agency would have the responsibility for investigating a case where it has been brought to their attention that a parent or parents are failing in their duty to their child.
In the case of some intercountry adoptions, the country of origin may require the provision of post placement reports for a period of time following the finalisation of the adoption. While it has no statutory responsibility to do so, the Child and Family Agency assists adoptive parents in the provision of these reports.
65. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his plans to increase funding to Foróige for 2015 in view of the valuable and important work it carries out throughout the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39509/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department administers a range of funding schemes and programmes to support the provision of youth services to young people throughout the country including those from disadvantaged communities. The funding schemes support national and local youth work provision to some 380,000 young people and involve approximately 1,400 youth work staff in 477 projects and 40,000 volunteers working in youth work services and communities throughout the country. In 2014, funding of €49.78m has been provided to my Department for these schemes.
My Department provides funding to Foróige under the following schemes.
1. Youth Service Grant Scheme: This funding is to ensure the emergence, promotion, growth and development of youth organisations with distinctive philosophies and programmes aimed at the social education of young people.
2. Special Projects for Youth Scheme: this supports projects which target young people who are disadvantaged including young Travellers and young people who are out of school and at risk of drugs, substance abuse or homelessness.
3. Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund. Under this scheme projects are located in disadvantaged areas where a significant drug problem exists or has the potential to develop. The objective is to attract “at risk” young people into facilities and activities and divert them away from the dangers of substance abuse.
In 2014 a total funding of over €7m has been allocated to Foróige under these schemes and the breakdown is as follows:
|
Programme |
Amount in 2014 |
|
Youth Service Grant Scheme |
€2,551,737 |
|
Young Peoples Facilities and Services Fund (1 & 2) |
€1,879,533 |
|
Special Projects for Youth |
€2,678,277 |
|
Total |
€7,109,547 |
The question of additional funding to my Department to support the provision of youth services is a matter for consideration in the context of the annual Estimates and Budgetary processes having regard to the resources available to the Government.
66. Deputy Finian McGrath asked the Minister for Health the reason, after 50 years of fluoridation, no proper environmental impact studies have ever been done. [39443/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraFluoride is already widely available in the environment; soil contains fluoride, and the oceans of the world are fluoridated, having twice the concentration of fluoride as has fluoridated drinking water. The question of wider environmental effects of fluoridation was considered by the EU Scientific Committee on Health and Environmental Risk (SCHER) Review in 2011. It found that fluoridation of water supplies does not pose an unacceptable risk to the wider environment, indicating that:
“Exposure of environmental organisms to the levels of fluoride used for water fluoridation of drinking water is not expected to lead to unacceptable risks for the environment ”.
The Department of Health keeps the policy of water fluoridation under constant review. As part of this ongoing work, a review of evidence on the impact of water fluoridation at its current level on the health of the population and on the environment is being conducted by the Health Research Board on behalf of the Department. The report is due to be completed by the end of this year.
