I thank the Senator. A lot of thought has gone into the process of how these requests will be made, and there is an element of trying to balance the needs of the employees, as the Senator articulated, and the needs of employers. We are covering a diverse range of employers, many where the right to request remote or flexible working will be easily or reasonably easily provided for. However, there are others where it will not so easily be provided for and it will be difficult. It may take some time and consideration.…

I thank the Senator. These amendments seek to amend the provisions relating to the termination of a flexible or remote working arrangement and could represent an undue interference in how the employer operates his or her business. The proposed insertion of the words "reasonable and demonstratable" is unnecessary. The bar for termination is set appropriately high. Employers cannot terminate an arrangement for trivial reasons. The termination provisions can only be used when the employer is satisfied that the arrange…

Amendments Nos. 37 and 58 are amending the process around termination. It is important to make the point that the provisions of the Bill do not preclude employees from making a request for follow-on, flexible working or remote working arrangements to commence, once a period of seasonal variation concludes. A flexible working agreement could address the seasonality of the workplace with regard to the use of shortened or flexible hours during certain parts of the year. However, that would have to be done with agreeme…

We discussed this earlier with respect to how the employer, in making a decision on a flexible working relationship, has the right to consider his or her own needs and the rights of the employee. In doing so, the seasonal nature of a business will no doubt be a significant part of the considerations about the decision to grant flexible working arrangements or not but also how those flexible arrangements operate. Employers who see the importance of this legislation to making themselves attractive to employees will b…

I thank the Senator and thank her for her engagement with me and my officials on this point. Section 13 inserts a new section 21A into the Parental Leave Act that sets out the process for the consideration of a dispute between an employer and an employee related to Part 2 of this Bill. Section 21A(6) sets out that an adjudication officer or the Labour Court shall not assess the merits of the decision of an employer or a refusal of a request made under Part IIA. This is an important provision. The Senator is right b…

As I said earlier, this provision has always involved a right to request. I have certainly never advertised it as anything else. It is a significant change, and we should be cautious not to talk down what is going to be a significant advance in terms of the rights workers have. We must recognise that the provisions here have been strengthened throughout the process. Significant changes were made between the pre-legislative scrutiny phase and the Bill coming before the Dáil, where is was amended further. An importan…

I thank Senator Higgins. Section 15 of the Bill amends section 27 of the Parental Leave Act, which provides for the retention of records to be held by an employer in respect of forms of leave and entitlements under the Bill. Section 15 provides that those records related to leave for medical care purposes and the right to request a flexible working arrangement be held for three years only and obviously the requirements of the general data protection regulation, GDPR, are that third party data should only be held fo…

I thank the Senator. I recognise what she is trying to do with the inclusivity of the language. As she is aware, we have designed the Bill so that the practical benefits are inclusive. In engagement with the drafting office, we have been told the legislation may be read in accordance with the provisions of the Interpretation Act and that as a result, this amendment is unnecessary because of the way in which the term is applied in the Interpretation Act. The recommendation from the drafting office is that this amend…

I thank the Deputy. Many childminders are currently excluded from registration and, therefore, from the national childcare scheme because of exemptions in the Child Care Act 1991. To bring all childminders within the scope of registration and the national childcare scheme subsidies requires an amendment to this Act. Childminding offers many benefits to children and parents but until now it has received little formal recognition by the State. It has remained at the margins of funding, support and regulation, despite…

We are planning to bring forward proposals for changes to the Child Care Act 1991 to Cabinet by the end of quarter 1. Those will be quite substantial and will include revising the law in the area of the taking of children into care because the 1991 legislation needs to be changed. Tusla's powers of inspection for centre-based childcare will also be included within that legislation. We will add a power in that the Minister will be given the power to create regulations for childminders. It is to be hoped, all things …

I had a good meeting with Childminding Ireland three weeks ago, and earlier this week I wrote to it on foot of that meeting. Not only did I write to it but I also asked it to distribute a letter from me across childminders in its network setting out what we are doing with the childminding action plan and what the next steps are. I know, even from a couple of emails I got when the announcement was made last year, that there is some fear among childminders as to what we are seeking to do. I think everyone agrees that…

I am taking this question on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte. A Government decision in December 2022 confirmed that the transfer of policy, functions and funding responsibility relating to specialist community-based disability services from the Minister for Health to me, as Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, would take place on 1 March of this year. The colocation of disability equality policy and community-based disability services functions in a single Department …

I know that the Deputy has advocated very strongly on these issues. I am looking forward, from 1 March, to taking on the responsibility for delivery of disability services for children and adults. The Deputy is absolutely right about the crucial issue of the assessment of needs. He knows the history of this. He knows that a new process had been adopted over a number of years. That was challenged in the courts. That process was found not to meet the requirements under the Disability Act, and that requires a reassess…

I am not trying to avoid responsibility but, for the sake of clarity, CAMHS will not be moving over to my Department. CAMHS will continue to fall within the remit of the Department of Health. It is not moving over with community-based specialist services. I do, however, take the Deputy's point about the issue of dual diagnosis, that is, cases in which there is a disability diagnosis and a mental health diagnosis as well. It has been an issue that one or two of my constituents have raised. We will have to engage on …

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine in February of last year, my Department has continued to work as part of the whole-of-government response, with a focus on meeting the immediate accommodation needs of those fleeing the conflict. To date the State has provided accommodation to more than 55,000 beneficiaries of the temporary protection directive. In response to the crisis, the Government has sought to provide a range of accommodation solutions in every county in Ireland, including Cavan. As part of this consi…

In terms of education and the provision of school places at primary or secondary level, I am very grateful to the Minister for Education, Deputy Foley, for acting rapidly to set up REALTs at education and training board, ETB, level. They are there to identify where there is spare capacity, where schools are under pressure and to match that to the needs of Ukrainian children initially, but also of international protection children. That is a good system that is operating well. The REALTs will be closely linked in wi…

I absolutely agree. I have always been upfront in terms of the challenge that the dual crises of Ukrainian and wider migration poses. It is a challenge for the State. Indeed, it is a challenge for all states right now because it puts extra pressure on resources. The Deputy spoke about family resource centres and Tusla, through my Department, has been given an additional allocation to support the response to Ukraine. That can be filtered down to Tusla's front-line services, including family resource centres. I belie…

I also wish to offer my sympathies to both Deputies on the death of their uncle. My Department is accommodating over 55,000 people from Ukraine, having contracted 42,000 beds in over 700 settings, including in serviced accommodation and other repurposed settings. In County Kerry, communities have welcomed over 6,000 Ukrainians, with almost 1,700 in the Killarney town area. I know that those from Ukraine sincerely appreciate the community support they have received across Kerry and the rest of the country. Those fle…

Undoubtedly, as I said in response to the previous questions, there are challenges here. This is a war-generated crisis and it places a challenge on Ireland and on other countries. As I said, there are a number of clear programmes to provide additional accommodation - modular, refurbishment and the new vacant home scheme - but I am aware of the risk in that regard, particularly in the early part of spring. Those three strands may not accommodate everyone if a significant number of hotels decide to revert to tourism…

In terms of the Deputy's earlier comments, it is important to say that someone arriving in Ireland has a right to claim international protection and often people have to flee a country on fake documents because they are being chased or repressed by a particular regime. If one were looking to flee one's country, if one were an Iranian feminist dissident or something like that, it is unlikely that the Iranian regime would give one an exit paper in which case one may have to flee the country on forged documents. That …