On engagement with survivors, I said in the Seanad yesterday that I have had online meetings, had phone calls and had very significant engagement with one of the survivors. I am open to further engagement if that is something they feel is necessary and that they would wish. Moving away from St. John Ambulance to the wider issue, the discussions Deputy Funchion will have at her committee will be useful in terms of Tusla giving its perspective on its engagement with this organisation and any similar organisation. The…

The Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 provides guaranteed access to birth and early life information where it exists, thereby addressing a decades-long historic injustice. The legislation provides a full and clear right of access to birth certificates, birth, early life, care, and medical information for all persons who were adopted, boarded out, the subject of an illegal birth registration, or who otherwise have questions in relation to their origins. In this context, and the context of the historical denial …

If the Deputy wishes to draw a specific instance to my attention, where an individual has received less information, she can do that. I have always engaged with Deputies when they had concerns about information issues. I will not comment as I would like to see the information. If we can provide a resolution, we will do so. In terms of the processing, there are delays which I know are deeply concerning for survivors, many of who waited for a long time. We added in those statutory timeframes on Committee Stage. We di…

If there are specific issues in terms of the accessibility of information, I can only act on them if I know what they are. There are many sources of information. It may be that the information one of the people who has been engaging with the Deputy is from a source that is not covered by the birth information and tracing legislation. There could be a variety of reasons the information that person has received is different. I am happy we have acted already. We made an amendment through the Work Life Balance and Misc…

Since publishing A White Paper to End Direct Provision and to Establish a New International Protection Support Service, my Department has placed a significant focus and drive on delivering these reforms. Implementation of the White Paper began with the appointment of dedicated staff as part of a transition team in the Department to lead the transition to the new system. Governance structures were established to oversee transition to the new model in the form of a programme board and an external advisory group. A hi…

The Deputy has raised a number of issues that I will be unable to delve into fully in the time available. The three key elements of the White Paper related to accommodation, supports and integration. We are absolutely on the back foot in terms of the accommodation vision that was set out in the White Paper because of the changed circumstances. However, it is not accurate to say we have done nothing on supports and integration. We have brought in the community integration fund. We will be putting two integration off…

I can tell the Deputy clearly that we have not abandoned the idea of reception and integration centres. They remain central to our response. My Department is engaging at the moment with the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery and Reform about how we can advance the programme, whether through my Department purchasing large existing buildings and converting them into reception and integration centres or going for a scratch build, which will take longer. We are looking at the various f…

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6 and 19 together. I thank the Deputy. The case he has outlined brings to mind a similar case in my constituency. The HSE provides specialist disability services, including day services and rehabilitative training, to people with disabilities who require such services. People with intellectual disabilities form the majority of service users who are supported by these services. While day service funding does not include transport, some transport supports are provided by the HSE or fu…

It is a goal of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and mine to increase the number of PA hours available across the country. PA hours are designed to allow a person with a physical or intellectual disability to live as full a life as possible. Based on how the Deputy described the situation his constituent is facing, her ability to live what has been a very fulfilling life so far with her experience at second level is now being impacted by the difficulty with travel to her third-level facility. The work we are…

I apologise to Deputy Stanton if my answer gave the impression I was excluding persons with intellectual disabilities; I am absolutely not. It is vital they are entitled to be able to avail of the services through education, further education and employment. They need to be supported regarding transport. I will speak to the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, about this particular issue. I agree with Deputy Ó Murchú about the involvement of all Departments. My Department has a co-ordinating role, but we cannot prov…

That is very kind of the Deputy. The issue of someone with an intellectual disability who needs to change buses or trains is as big a challenge in Blanchardstown as it is anywhere in Cork East. I appreciate that and I will consider it.

The UNCRPD requires states to actively involve people with disabilities and their representative organisations in the development and monitoring of law and policy. This includes organisations of people with disabilities, also known as disabled persons' organisations. These are organisations that are led by and have a majority membership of people with disabilities. While my Department funds and supports a number of structures in relation to consultation obligations, engaging people with disabilities and their repre…

That dialogue is especially important. In my constituency we have an excellent organisation that is both a service provider and DPO, the Blanchardstown Centre for Independent Living. There is a network around the country. I have always found it to be a great sounding board in terms of being able to meet with it, talk to people with disabilities, and have engagement on legislation or policies I am working on in my Department. Ireland has to report to the overseeing body for the UNCRPD on how we are doing as a countr…

It is certainly a goal of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, and mine that we would see ratification of the optional protocol. Ireland has a legal position that it does not sign up to conventions where it feels its domestic law is not ready to comply with them yet. One of the big blockages to ratifying the optional protocol is that wardship was still in place. As Deputy Kenny knows, we recently passed the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) (Amendment) Act 2022, and we will be taking steps to remove wardship a…

Deputy Dillon has engaged with me directly in respect of a number of hotels in his constituency. Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine one year ago, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-government response to the Ukraine crisis. The unprecedented demand for accommodation and, by association, the level of transactions involved is significant. With more than 750 contractors paid monthly, the payments process is an operation of considerable scale. The Department is obliged to ensure invoices ar…

There have been delays. This has caused problems for hoteliers and other people who are providing serviced accommodation and doing so much to support the Government’s effort. That is why we have put a focus on this in terms of getting external resources. I have also been clear within the Department. We have had to move people and to stop other work that we would like to be doing. Such is the importance of this issue that I have directed that be done and that staff be moved. We will continue to facilitate that to ma…

I recognise the important role the hotel and wider serviced accommodation sector provides in meeting needs we never anticipated in the context of a war. It is an issue that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, has raised with me regularly. We are looking at bringing forth other elements of accommodation. It is 700 modular homes, not 200, and will provide 2,800 places when completed. We are also looking at a quicker build modular, something which may not last …

The Deputy and I have spoken about this issue for as long as I have been in this role and I think both of us are of the belief that the level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners should reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy. The State is not the employer and does not set the pay and conditions for employees in early learning and childcare services. However, there is now through the joint labour committee, JLC, process a formal mechanism es…

We are undertaking a review, announced in December last year, of small sessional ECCE-only services. An issue had been raised that they felt they had not been fully supported by core funding. The data our Department was looking at said otherwise but there was a disagreement. We brought in an independent organisation. I was disappointed by the take-up and the number of services who went into the process. Services said there was an issue, we provided a mechanism to look at it and about 17 services have engaged with i…

The process is close to over but if Deputy Sherlock wants to give me information for my own decision-making processes that is fine. I think it is too late to join the process that was established. It started in January and we will get the interim report soon. If the Deputy wants to give me information I will be happy to take it from him because it is relevant to my own decision-making process.