I cannot disagree with anything the Deputy said in terms of the challenge the significant level of vacancy poses for the CDNTs all over the country and their ability to deliver crucial interventions for children and the subsequent improvements in quality of life for families. The next Government will look at the progressing disabilities model and have an opportunity to make decisions. We have to be clear that until there are enough therapists, it does not matter if we call it progressing disability services or some…

I take the Deputy's point on getting the therapists who will graduate in years to come where they are most needed. I look at what Tusla did in terms of social workers. Every social worker who graduates from an Irish university gets an offer of employment from Tusla. That is extremely attractive and has been very good in bringing not all social workers, but a significant number to do work and training with Tusla directly. I will continue to engage with Bernard Gloster. I spoke in response to an earlier question abou…

I thank the Deputy. She has raised this with me regularly in my time as Minister. I was pleased to announce on 8 October that the Government made the important decision to formally accede to the optional protocol to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, delivering on a key programme for Government commitment. This decision marks a milestone moment for Ireland and demonstrates our ongoing commitment to the realisation of the rights and obligations set out in the convention. Furthe…

We all want a country where people with disabilities and their families do not feel they need to take up the provisions of the optional protocol and feel that Ireland is meeting their full rights under the UNCRPD. We know we are not there yet and have a lot of work to do to get to that place. We have been able to do some important things in the past four and a half years, particularly since disability came over to my Department, but we recognise there is still a big gap. One of the ways we are recognising this is p…

There is no further delay. I am not quite sure what the Deputy is talking about. We have agreed as Government to sign the optional protocol and sent the accession documents to New York, which is how it is done. They will be delivered by the Irish representative in the United Nations to the United Nations disability committee and 30 days later the optional protocol will be binding on Ireland - that will be by the end of this year. There is no delay----

-----and no lack of clarity on that point. On Deputy Hourigan's point, it will be a motivator. It motivated our Department on the assisted decision-making legislation and is an important motivator behind the mental health legislation passing through the Houses right now. There have been analyses and there are areas where Ireland is vulnerable. Universal design, which the Deputy has placed a focus on, is one area. Early intervention and assessment of needs is another area in which we are vulnerable. As a Government,…

I thank the Deputy. In line with the progressing disability services model, 93 children’s disability network teams are aligned to 96 community healthcare networks across the country and provide services and supports for children from birth to 18 years of age. Part of services provided by CDNTs and primary care services includes assessment for, prescription, provision and training for children and families in the use of required assistive technologies, which include augmentative and alternative communication. One of…

I thank the Deputy. I can absolutely understand the frustration there, especially if her constituent is hearing the course is not full. That is hugely frustrating. Maybe the Deputy could drop a note to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and me and we could look to follow it up with the CHO to get some clarification and ensure this person is able to avail of the course as quickly as possible. Having met children, young people and parents in my constituency, I have seen the huge advantages assistive technology c…

I appreciate the guidance of the Acting Chairperson. If Members will indulge me for a minute before I speak to the amendments in group A, I wish to warmly welcome three women and their families to the House here today for this important matter. Having experienced the terrible news of a cancer diagnosis during their pregnancies, Erica Tierney, Mary Canavan and Emma McGuinness have all campaigned tirelessly to ensure that women who are diagnosed with cancer during their pregnancy can pause their maternity leave while…

That point about integration between health supports health supports provided through my Department and the HSE and education supports provided through the Department of Education and the NCSE is very important. What I have seen in the new Cabinet committee on children and education and disability is we have those opportunities to ensure we are able to address the gaps which results in children falling between two stools. One of the things I have been able to do concerns the data my Department has about the number …

That is amendment No. 6. This proposal, related to maternity leave for Members of the Oireachtas, was carefully drafted with the Office of the Attorney General to avoid any perceived overstep in relation to the separation of powers. However, given the subject matter of what we are doing, in allowing all women to have the ability to defer their maternity leave in the event of serious illness, it would be strange at the same time that we are providing maternity leave for Oireachtas Members not to provide the same rig…

I thank the Deputy. My Department renews the court reporting project periodically through a competitive tender process. The current iteration of the court reporting project began in November 2021 and will expire on 31 October 2024, over which period funding totalling €600,000 will have been provided to the Child Law Project. My Department is currently prioritising the development of a new procurement process and intends that a new phase of court reporting will commence in January of next year. The current iteration…

This amendment inserts a new section 14B into the Employment Equality Act 1998 to introduce measures to limit the use of non-disclosure agreements, NDAs, where an employee has alleged discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment or victimisation. The proposal provides that such NDAs may be entered into only if requested by the employee, and with legal advice provided at the employer's expense. The amendment lays out a list of conditions that must be met in order for such an NDA to be enforceable. It must be set ou…

It is not. The Child Law Project is very important in shining a light on where the State has failed. We learn from that. One of the responses I have made to the work the project has done and my engagement with other NGOs working in this area has been to convene a new committee of statutory agencies. We are bringing together the HSE, Tusla, An Garda Síochána, my Department and the Department of Health because it is too often the case that the types of headlines the Deputy has read out on the experiences children hav…

I thank Deputy Durkan. I will need to come back to him if I am to give him a comprehensive answer. If it is all right, I will come back to him in writing on that question. The tendering process will begin in November. I met with the Child Law Project in March and set out our position. We have brought in legislation on assisted decision-making, which also involves a reporting element. At some stage in the future, we may tender for reporting on child law and assisted decision-making together. Even though it does amaz…

I thank the Senators for their contributions. Senator Seery Kearney's idea that this is a sign of no tolerance is important. As the House might know, on our State-wide response to domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, we have a national strategy and zero tolerance is its title and runs all of the way through it. Situations where perpetrators are able to harass or sexually harass colleagues and staff and get that hushed up and swept under the carpet is exactly what we are trying to stop with this. The pervasiv…

Following issues with this service provider, Tusla's director of services issued a direction to all regional chief officers on 15 January of this year to stop using the services of this company. Tusla informed my Department on 10 September that one Tusla local area inadvertently re-engaged this particular service. The service was wrongly engaged for supervised access where another funded agency was not in a position to provide the service required. The company was engaged by Tusla on three dates in September and on…

The amendments in this group introduce a new Part to provide for the preservation of the defined categories of records held by private actors so that they are preserved in the public interest. I recognise that this section came late in the day. I thank all of the Senators who have engaged with me on this particular point and I know that we have held a number of briefings for Senators and Deputies. I hope we have explained our wanting to move fast with this particular protection. The private actors would include any…

Yes, it was this year. Tusla has advised that this arrangement ceased on 8 October this year. Two children in a sibling group availed of this service for supervised access in one local area. It was one family. This company supervised four visits. I want to make it clear that this is not acceptable and should not have happened. We have raised the issue directly with Tusla. The spend on this company in 2024 was €101,986. The vast majority of this was payment for services in 2023. Tusla has assured my Department that …

I thank the Senator for her comments. What we are doing is significant. The preservation steps we are taking in this legislation are similar to those taken in Northern Ireland approximately two years ago as regards wider institutional records. In Northern Ireland, that has already led to private record holders surrendering records to the state because they cannot maintain them to the standard expected. I anticipate that something similar will happen once we implement this. Under the National Archives Act, there is …