First, I would like to commend my colleague, Deputy Funchion, on bringing this motion forward and, indeed, on all the work she does on raising awareness around the issue of the exorbitant childcare costs. Childcare fees are far too high. They average at €200 a week per child. That is €800 a month, or even up to about €1,300 a month in some areas. It is like a second mortgage for families. People cannot afford to continue to pay such exorbitant fees. The proposals in the Government’s budget 2022 simply do not go far…

Will the Minister outline if she has plans to increase funding and resources to local development companies that administer schemes such as the social inclusion and community activation programme, SICAP, which will have an increased role in the provision of advice and services for Ukrainian refugees.

I thank the Minister of State. He referred to the 49 LDCs. I am conscious that they assist 15,000 community groups and up to 170,000 individuals annually, which represents a tremendous outreach and a large amount of work. My two LDCs are Cavan County Local Development and Monaghan Integrated Development, which deliver a range of integration and resettlement programmes and supports to refugees and asylum seekers in new communities who have come here to escape conflicts. Like other groups working with refugees and as…

The supports being offered to refugees and new communities are invaluable, but they are usually for a limited time. I have met some refugees. Although they received invaluable support, they were expected to cope on their own after a certain while. They had made connections with staff and were still putting questions to them and looking for their support even after the programmes they had been on had finished. The staff had got to know them and were reluctant not to help them. The staff are taking on a great deal of…

Will the Minister outline his plans to ensure access to services for children with disabilities, in addition to his plans to fully staff children's disability network teams and establish the family forums associated with those teams?

I was contacted yesterday by a parent who said that numerous parents had contacted her to say their AON appointments had been cancelled due to the High Court ruling. They are being told by CDNT staff that they are not reverting to the previous AON model covered by the Disability Act 2005. Staff have also told these parents that they have received no guidance from the HSE on how to proceed with assessments. All assessments have ceased, no guidance has been issued and children have been moved to a new waiting list un…

As I said, the biggest problem is with HSE recruitment practices. They are cumbersome and archaic. Just before I came to the Chamber, this issue was discussed at a private meeting of the Joint Committee on Disability Matters. Several of its members said they know highly qualified people who were not refused and were put on panels. They were placed third, fourth or fifth on a panel a year ago and still have not been offered a position. That is something the HSE needs to address immediately. We have highly qualified …

First, I condemn Russia's actions in invading Ukraine. There is no justification for this assault on its sovereign neighbour. I praise the Ukrainian people for their valiant resistance in the face of this appalling aggression. I welcome the Government's decision to expel four Russian embassy staff. I question the reason Russia needs 30 members of staff in its embassy here in the first place. It is welcome that the Government is fast-tracking the asylum process for Ukrainian refugees and has not, so far, put a restr…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: notes: — the High Court judgment of 11th March, 2022, in C.T.M. (A Minor) v Assessment Officer and Anor, J.A. (A Minor) v the Health Service Executive 2022 IEHC 131, which found that the 2020 Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) adopted by the Health Service Executive (HSE) was causing its Assessment Officers to "err in law", and that the HSE do not intend to appeal this case; — that the HSE is in breach of the rights of children with disabilities, as set out by the Oireachtas in the Disabi…

I thank all those who contributed to this debate and support the motion. All of us have children and families in our constituencies who have been waiting for years for services and assessments. We have heard from parents who have letters telling them their child will be seen for an appointment in November 2024 or four years' time. That is outrageous and has to be urgently addressed. While I welcome the fact that the Government is not opposing this motion, can I assume it is supporting it? I wish to reiterate what w…

The database the HSE was using, which was mentioned a few times by the assessment officers, is, by its own admission, outdated and not fit for purpose. That needs to be addressed urgently. The Minister mentioned that the reports up to 2014 were published but that those since then have not been. We are calling to have the outstanding reports in the autumn session, in September. We will return to this if they are not provided. We have talked about engaging in proactive and joined-up workforce planning to develop a st…

Good morning to the Minister. Is he aware that more than a small number of childcare sessional and SAC services will be adversely affected by the newly announced core funding model? Will he give a guarantee that they will not be worse off? Will he confirm that staff working in these services can avail of the uplift? If not, why do they not qualify?

I thank the Minister. We are acutely aware of issues in the childcare sectors in recent years, including the cost of childcare to parents and staff not being paid at levels appropriate to their qualifications. I acknowledge that many services will be better off and welcome the uplift to 49 weeks instead of 38 weeks for degree staff. I know it is rolled out as part of the budget and will come on stream later this year. However, a few services have been in touch with Deputy Funchion's office to say they will be worse…

The Minister mentioned an interim period and that the JLC is meeting regularly. I am concerned that funding is still reliant on the employment regulation order. Does the Minister have concerns about that? Is he confident that everything will work out as intended?

Following the publication of the report by the special rapporteur on child protection, Professor Conor O'Mahony, into illegal adoption practices in the State, will the Minister confirm if he will establish an inquiry into illegal birth registrations, what form the inquiry will take, if the accountability will be a key component of the inquiry and what consultation processes are planned to be undertaken in this regard? Can the Minister also confirm that a once-off payment or compensation of €3,000 will apply to othe…

We have had two significant exposés of illegal adoptions recently, namely, the "RTÉ Investigates" follow-up programme on illegal adoption practices in the State and then the report from Professor Conor O'Mahony's into the State's response to illegal birth registrations. Tusla is still putting obstacles in the way of some people seeking information in this regard. We saw in the follow-up programme to the original broadcast that obstacles still exist. These reports were both damning and they showed that the State had…

I acknowledge that work has been done and that under the guidance of the Minister, matters have progressed much more than they had under his predecessors. It is important to say an inquiry is needed that would not go on for years and cost millions of euro. It must get answers and hold people to account for what happened. The Minister has indicated the €3,000 one-off payment is going to people from St. Patrick's Guild and there is a possibility that process will be opened to others. It is only a possibility at this …

Okay.

Will the Minister confirm when the Department's in-depth analysis of 13 childcare services in very disadvantaged areas was conducted? What were the findings and when will the Minister make the research public?

In the Department's 12-month review of the NCS, there is a paragraph that mentions this in-depth review that nobody in the sector has seen or even knew about. Did that review find that seven of the 13 services would move into financial deficit with the introduction of the NCS? Did it find that funding from these schemes constituted a major share of the services' revenues? Will the Minister confirm if many of the parents receiving community childcare subvention programme, a very high proportion of whom are unemploye…