I, my Department and Tusla recognise the essential importance of the work foster carers do. Deputy Gould is right in saying that we would prefer it if children were not in care, but the truly amazing statistic that 89% of children in care are in foster care rather than in residential situations is extremely important. It is also important that we continue to properly acknowledge this work done by foster carers. The fact that we have not increased the basic allowance for 13 years is not a proper acknowledgement, and…

As the Deputies will be aware, I cannot anticipate the outcome of the next budget. What I can say is that securing an increase in the rate of the foster carer's allowance will be a priority for me going into the next budget.

There is also a range of other measures within the foster care improvement plan that Tusla has set out and I will be looking to work on each of those as well. If we can achieve them, all of them can provide benefits to foster carers as well. We have to look at the response to foster carers in terms of the suite of alternative care policies that Tusla is bringing forward right now on foster carers, on residential care and on aftercare and all the measures that my Department takes, that Tusla takes and, indeed, that …

On 15 September, I launched Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare. This new funding model supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good and for quality and affordability for children, parents and families. Together for Better brings together three major programmes, the Early Childhood Care and Education, ECCE, programme, including the access and inclusion model, AIM, the national childcare scheme and the new core funding scheme. I am delighted that t…

I thank Deputy Higgins. I had a couple of statistics ready for Deputy Richmond in terms of his constituency. For Deputy Higgins's own interest, in south Dublin, where her constituency is, we have an 87% take up of core funding. It is a little less than the national average but still a very strong take up. As I was saying to Deputy Funchion earlier, when we introduced core funding we saw it very much as supporting the wages of childcare professionals. Deputy Higgins set out how 73% of childcare professionals, or 25,…

I did not answer the Deputy's original question in terms of payscales. Under the employment regulation order, we have a payscale set in terms of qualifications at present rather than longevity of service. The basic rate is €13 per hour. If one is a graduate, if one is a manager or if one is a graduate manager, there are six different payscales. The money we have for the second year will allow us to make some changes. For example, people must have three years' post-graduate experience to get the graduate uplift. We …

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, and the invoking of the temporary protection directive by the European Union shortly afterwards, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-governmental response to the Ukraine crisis. The operational challenges brought about by responding to the conflict are significant. Our country has never experienced an influx of displaced persons such as the one that we have seen over recent months. My Department is focused on the immediate, short-term ac…

The war in Ukraine has generated the biggest movement of population on the European continent since the Second World War. It is happening miles from us so sometimes we forget that this is the scale of what we are doing. There are 1.2 million people in Poland, 800,000 people in Romania and Hungary and 450,000 people in Czechia. I was recently speaking to the Commissioner from Czechia. It is having a huge impact in Ireland. Ireland's numbers compared to some of these countries are small, at 53,000 at this stage, but …

Deputy O'Dowd has raised a serious issue. I hope it is known to all Deputies that if a serious issue such as this arises they should come to me. This is something I need to know about. I am happy to speak to Deputy O'Dowd after Question Time about this issue. We will look to get a resolution. The point made by Deputy Ó Cathasaigh is important with regard to looking to the medium and long term and the level of supports that will be needed for the Ukrainian community here. This will be a key element in the next Cabin…

There have been significant advances in the provision of family leave in recent years. Since coming into office I have prioritised the expansion of types of family leave in line with Government policy and European legislation. The Parent's Leave and Benefit Act 2019 provides working parents with an entitlement to seven weeks of paid parental leave for each relevant parent, to be taken in the first two years after the birth or adoptive placement of a child. The intention of that leave is to enable parents to spend t…

Central to what we are trying to do is to support the rebalancing of those caring responsibilities and move away from the perception, as described by the Deputy, of what mam and dad are doing at this time. That is why parents' leave is not transferable, and I know there was some criticism of this at the time, but that is how it has to be. There are seven weeks for the mother and seven weeks for the father. If he does not take up the leave, that is fine, but it will not be transferred. It is there to support fathers…

The Government has recognised, in the programme for Government, the epidemic of domestic, sexual and gender-based violence, DSGBV, and is introducing a range of measures, which the Minister, Deputy McEntee, is leading. This is an action I can take in my Department to support victims, recognising their risk of falling into poverty as a result of being a victim of DSGBV. On family leave being good for the economy, it is also good for society and that is what we are trying to do. We are trying to support families in t…

I thank the Deputy. Since its formation, the Government has made it clear that tackling domestic, sexual and gender-based violence is a key priority. I am conscious of the risk of poverty that those fleeing domestic violence face. The programme for Government contained a commitment to investigate the feasibility of providing paid leave and social protection supports for victims of domestic violence. The Government has approved the drafting of Committee Stage amendments to the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Pro…

I thank the Deputy. What we are doing with this paid leave is significant. We will be the second EU country to bring in paid domestic violence leave and one of a handful internationally. We are very much on the cusp in terms of our response. It part of a recognition of the general zero tolerance approach the Government is taking to this issue. Due to the fact it is new, the legislation will build in a review after two years to examine the take-up, whether any issues have arisen and whether we should increase the fi…

I thank the Deputy. That is why we are bringing forward the policy development element. We will commission independent work on the development of those policies. There is some nervousness. Some of the groups representing some small employers flagged nervousness with us regarding the sensitivity of these issues. Ireland is a small country. People who know the victim may also know the perpetrator. People are wondering about the legal position vis-à-vis the perpetrator once they know such information. To try to addres…

I always recognise the importance of the testimonies of those who appear before the confidential committee. That is why I went to some length to secure the audio recordings of those who did so when those testimonies were believed to be lost or deleted. I know many of the witnesses describe their personal experiences to the confidential committee and they did so feeling that their words would form part of the historical record. That did not happen. Their testimonies were abbreviated, truncated and, sometimes, combin…

I hope the Deputy will also congratulate me on my Bill.

It is not.

I thank all the Deputies who have contributed to this debate today and yesterday. The Government is committed to ensuring that every child gets the best start in life and to supporting parents to spend more time with their children in those precious years at the start of life. This Bill provides additional flexibility to ensure that parents and carers can be supported to balance their working and family lives. This Government has been very active in extending parental and family leave. The Covid-19 pandemic revolut…

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).