I absolutely agree with the Deputy that every person who spent any amount of time in these institutions was impacted, although I am not sure I agree that every person was impacted the exact same. Certainly, my engagements with survivors would suggest that people have different responses and reactions to the time spent in the institutions but I agree with Deputy Browne that everyone was impacted. It is the desire and intention of the Government, across the action plan and the 22 actions, to respond as best we can to…

The Minister for Justice, Deputy McEntee, and I had the opportunity to go out and meet some of those families yesterday. We have engaged with many of them over recent months. There has been substantial engagement between my Department, the Ministers, Deputies McEntee and Stephen Donnelly, and the Attorney General on this matter. It is an issue we discussed recently at Cabinet. The Minister, Deputy McEntee, will be bringing forward a proposal for a special Oireachtas committee to examine specifically the issue of su…

I thank all Deputies for their contributions today and yesterday and for the detail in which they have looked at the Bill. Some of the contributions have focused very much on the legislation. Some of them have been on broader issues that are relevant to the work of the Department, other Departments and the work of State agencies. I acknowledge the case that Deputy Boyd Barrett brought to my attention. It has not crossed my desk directly yet. I have been in touch with some officials in the context of this debate. I …

I move: That the Bill be referred to the Select Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, pursuant to Standing Orders 95(3)( a ) and 181(1).

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this draft legislation and the issue today. I thank Deputy Canney for bringing the issue forward. As I indicated earlier, I am in the middle of a strategy meeting for another of the Government's national strategies, so I apologise that I was unable to hear the contributions of all Members. I heard Deputy Canney's contribution and those of Deputies Lowry, Verona Murphy and Berry. I might come back to some of the other strategies the Government is working on and implementing in t…

I move: "That the Bill be now read a Second Time." I am pleased to have the opportunity to speak on the Second Stage of this important legislation. The purpose of the Bill is to give effect to the Taoiseach's announcement on 27 June 2020 that education welfare functions would return to the Department of Education. Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is responsible for the delivery of these services under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013, through the Tusla education support services, TESS, and the alternative ed…

Today is the first opportunity for the Oireachtas to discuss the report of the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality. I want to begin my contribution by commending and thanking those citizens - the 99 women and men, and the chair - who gave their time and consideration to developing the 45 recommendations that have come from the citizens' assembly seeking to achieve greater gender equality in Ireland. Covid-19 provided an unexpected and unwelcome interruption to their work. It is a credit to the chair, Catherine Da…

That is entirely unfair.

I spoke to them, listened to them and took their letters.

Deputy Pringle was the one using the hashtag and posting on Twitter. His remarks are entirely unfair.

My apologies.

I welcome the input from Deputies across the House during the debate. As has been generally identified, gender equality is a major challenge in our society. It continues to be a challenge within our society despite the progress that has undoubtedly been made in recent years. The recommendations from the Citizens' Assembly on Gender Equality give us a significant number of proposals, concepts and ideas to consider. The broad scope of the 45 recommendations we are discussing today has meant we probably will not have …

I thank the Senator for raising this very important matter. I am aware that this has received significant media attention recently, and that the statistics are very sobering. There has been a 100% increase in calls to helplines, a 63% increase in appointments and a 30% increase in the number of survivors attending centres. The Senator has outlined, beyond the statistics, the real-life impact of those waits on victims. The response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, is across government and is a m…

This Government has a strong track record on funding DSGBV services, including the increases that were provided in last year's budget to Tusla for funding the services, and with regard to the Department of Justice funding other supports, especially around the victims of domestic and sexual violence. That has been continued in this year's budget with a very substantial increase for Tusla. In my engagement with Tusla on the funding of existing domestic violence services, the funding of new services was also identifie…

I thank Senator Ruane for raising this important matter. I am aware of the vulnerability of people leaving care. I met with representatives from the Irish Aftercare Network on Monday, and we had a good discussion. It is not the first time I met with them. I have met groups such as Empowering People in Care, EPIC, so I am engaged with people, both dealing with children in care, and those supporting children in aftercare. I listen carefully to what they have to say. As the Senator is aware, the Ryan report implementa…

Every Minister has to consider cost as one of the factors in any decision-making process. However, it is not the driving factor. It is worth noting that the amount of data available since the Ryan report was published - which as the Senator pointed out is a long time ago – is now much greater. We have data from the national childcare information system, the Central Statistics Office and many other sources in respect of a range of areas. While longitudinal surveys are fantastic in identifying long-term trends, there…

I am pleased to outline the elements of the budget 2022 for the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth. My Department has received an additional €183 million, bringing the total investment in 2022 to €2.1 billion. This is a significant budget package, which reflects the high priority that my Department places on strengthening supports for children, childcare workers, refugees and migrants, women and members of the Traveller and LGBTI+ communities. In the area of early learning and child…

I am very conscious of the childcare costs experienced by parents and I have been fully determined to address this issue since I became Minister. In the context of this year’s budget, I have stated publicly that early learning and childcare is a key priority for me. In particular, I have indicated that I will be seeking additional investment to ensure providers can operate sustainably; their employees can benefit from improved pay and conditions; there is improved accessibility for children; and, as the Deputy said…

The Deputy is entirely correct that investment in early learning and childcare is a public good. In recognition of that, very substantial investment has been undertaken by the Government to support the sector during the Covid-19 period, including through payments of €34 million per month under the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. Every month, this money is invested in childcare services across the country. We have also recognised wider issues, including the very low rates of pay that staff receive. For this re…

The Deputy correctly identified the significant role of providers, many of which are small businesses run by individuals. As the Deputy stated, they are primarily led by women with a passion for providing education and care for the children and babies in their care. While the NCS is a very good system, it has its flaws, as we discussed in the context of our debate earlier this week. We have seen in the past that where additional investment has been put into it in order to support parents by reducing fees, it has of…