I thank the Deputy for his question. Throughout the pandemic, the State has offered significant supports to childcare services across the country, and rightly so. The childcare sector stepped up, particularly last January, and kept services open for the most vulnerable children. The Deputy is right. The expert group on the funding model will report in the coming months and set out how to ensure important public investment in and public management of our childcare services. I will engage on the funding issue with th…

I welcome the opportunity to speak to the highly important issue raised in this Bill and I acknowledge Deputies Connolly, Pringle and Joan Collins for bringing it forward. Access to birth information has been to the forefront of my agenda since I became a Minister and bringing forward legislation on this and other matters is a priority for me as a Minister and for this Government. We are keenly aware as a Government of the significance and urgency of the issue of birth and identity information. The Government will …

I thank the Deputies for their contributions. It is a key priority for me as the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to improve the affordability, accessibility and quality of early learning and care, ELC, and school age childcare, SAC. Historically, there have been low levels of investment in ELC and SAC in this country, although in the past five years we have seen a 141% increase in investment. That stands now at €638 million per year. This increase has funded a second year of the e…

I thank the Deputies. This sector, like many sectors of the economy, is coming out of an incredibly difficult time following Covid. It is a sector that certainly stepped up during the crisis, which both Deputies recognised, particularly last January when it did not shut but continued to provide early learning and care for the most vulnerable children and the children of essential workers. How we managed to deliver that was through the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS, and the sector exemption for childcare that…

I thank the Senator for raising this matter. As he said, section 39 of the Health Act 2004 relates to funding of bodies by the HSE and section 56 of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 relates to funding by Tusla. When the Senator raised this issue with the Minister for Health, he acknowledged it would be inappropriate for him to comment in respect of the operation of section 56 as matters funded under it relate to Tusla and fall within the remit of my Department. As Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, In…

I appreciate the Senator's concerns regarding the sustainability of community and voluntary sector organisations. They provide vital services to children, to families and to young people. I share Senator Dooley's concerns about the sustainability of those organisations and that is why this year I asked Tusla to examine what additional resources it could provide for these organisations on a once-off basis. As the Senator is probably aware, Tusla was able to provide an additional €7 million in funding last month for …

I am pleased to state that the Gender Pay Gap Information Bill passed all Stages in Seanad Éireann, with Report and Final Stages completed on Monday last. I acknowledge the support it received from the various parties and, in particular, the work Deputy Stanton did when he was Minister of State with responsibility in this regard. We are here to take note of two Government amendments made in the Seanad that required the Bill to be recommitted to this House. These amendments are purely administrative in nature. On am…

This is a purely technical amendment. Section 85C was originally section 85D. With the deletion of the original section 85B, it has become renumbered. Section 85C allows for an employee to make a complaint to the Workplace Relations Commission, WRC, of non-compliance with reporting regulations by his or her employer. The director general of the WRC or an adjudication officer will investigate the complaint if satisfied that there is a prima facie case. Subsection 5 provides for an appeal by the complainant or the re…

I indicated that I might make a brief comment at this point if that is all right.

I acknowledge the significance of this legislation as it passes its final Stage in the Dáil. It will be sent to the President for signature. Pay transparency on its own will not end the pay disparity between men and women but it is an important further step on the road to equality. This Bill will provide transparency and accountability for employees. It will demand of employers real and substantive action to reduce any gender pay disparity that exists in their organisation and help ensure workplaces become more equ…

The issue of guardianship is a matter for the courts in the first instance, under the Guardianship of Infants Act 1964. However, I have a continuing interest in ensuring that the legal and practical arrangements for the welfare of children are well-founded and appropriately applied at all times. As Minister in this Department, I have no formal or defined role in the determination of cases where there is a legal issue about the guardianship of a child. That is, and must be, a matter for the courts. However, there ar…

Some of these matters fall within the remit of the Department of Health. The drafting of a Bill on assisted human reproduction and associated research was based on the published general scheme of the assisted human reproduction Bill, which was published in the previous Dáil. Work on the Bill, including drafting, is ongoing by officials in the Department of Health. There is a commitment in the programme for Government that this legislation will be passed. The legislation is comprehensive. It encompasses the regulati…

This issue extends across a number of Departments. The three Ministers are working together and meeting regularly, which is important. We hope to meet again in the near future to continue our discussions. We are getting support from the Attorney General on the issue. I have met some of the groups and there is an alliance formed in this particular area. It is important that provision is made for children in Ireland who were conceived through surrogacy and are deeply loved by their parents. In all of this, when a chi…

I have discussed this matter with the Deputy on a number of occasions. As she is probably aware, I recently contracted Frontier Economics to undertake a review of the national childcare scheme in line with section 26 of the Childcare Support Act. In conducting that review, I asked the company to give consideration to a complaint made against the NCS, as we discussed during oral questions previously, concerning the application of a work-study test, which determines the number of subsidised hours of early learning an…

Yes. I specifically asked for this issue to be included in the review. Although I am confident the NCS is designed in a way to lessen disadvantage, I am also cognisant, having listened to the Deputy and having met childcare providers, especially from areas of geographic disadvantage, that they have raised concerns, which I want to address. As the Deputy knows, I have done a number of things. We have engaged with Tusla to enhance the application of the sponsorship arrangements and I spoke directly to the chief execu…

As the Deputy will know, it is early learning and care, with the emphasis on the early learning. On the review, I would expect it in the last quarter of the year. The review of the Child Care Act 1991 and, as significant, the report of the expert group are expected in the final quarter of this year. This is something I have been speaking about a great deal, although I did not initiate it. It was initiated by the former Minister, Katherine Zappone. The expert group is a really important group, comprised of eminent e…

I thank the Deputy. I have reflected deeply on many aspects of the commission's report since its publication and the survivors' response to it. I understand that some survivors are disappointed with how their personal testimonies were reported. People expected to see their full narrative as they told it, rather than abbreviated sections. It has become apparent that many did not know that the twin processes were in operation during the investigation. Much of the frustration is as a direct consequence of this. The pr…

I agree with the Deputy in terms of the bravery of the 500 individuals who appeared before the confidential committee to give their personal accounts of their experiences in these institutions. I have always said that that chapter and the extracts from their stories have had a huge impact on me, but I am aware that they are just extracts. I know from my engagement with survivors that they wanted their entire stories, not part of them, reflected on the historical record. Survivors can obtain their testimonies from t…

I am absolutely committed to providing a comprehensive redress scheme. When the parameters of the interdepartmental group were being established, the Government made clear that we would not be bound solely by the recommendations contained with the commission's report. That is an important step. It allows us-----

It allows us to go past the commission's report and to publish a scheme of redress that is comprehensive. I have always said it should recognise the time spent within these institutions, across both the mother and baby institutions and the county institutions. That is what the Government has committed to do and that is what we will deliver. I accept that we are a little behind in terms of publishing the scheme of the redress. I hope to have that soon. I believe it will be comprehensive in terms of the range of the …