Undoubtedly, there is a challenge being faced now. It one caused by the combination of the war in Ukraine and other major international conflicts, such those in Afghanistan, Ethiopia and Eritrea, that are generating greater movements of people. There are also issues in respect of changes in approaches to immigration and asylum law in other countries that are having an impact here as well. Therefore, we are undoubtedly under pressure. What is different is that in previous times there was an acceptance that direct pr…

The State must undoubtedly play a greater role but it needs to be a role centred on an approach based on human rights and an approach that believes in integration from day one. This is not solely a matter of accommodation, and I know the Deputy is not suggesting it is. Accommodation is important, but so are integration supports and ensuring that people seeking international protection are not isolated while waiting for decisions at the edge of towns and villages and instead are fully integrated in our communities. …

As the Deputy will be aware, I published a White Paper to end direction provision and establish a new international protection support service in February 2021. In the 14 months since its publication, my Department has placed a significant focus on the delivery of the new model of accommodation and supports for international protection applicants. As the Deputy will appreciate, the war in Ukraine has had an unavoidable impact on the implementation of the White Paper, as staff in my Department were temporarily diver…

As the Deputy is aware, the central problem with the direct provision model is its reliance on commercial operators and that is why the State has so few centres. We have seven State-owned accommodation centres as well as Balseskin, which is State owned and operated. Other than that, the system relies on commercial operators. That is the problem with the system, which the White Paper is trying to change and move away from. On a commitment to the White Paper, I have received full support across the Government. There …

The Deputy's last comment is certainly not one I have put forward and I do not think it is one anyone in government has put forward either. However, she is absolutely right in terms of the response to the need to accommodate people seeking international protection. It has to be seen in the context of the wider response to the housing crisis. It is also important that we have a clear plan. For years, we have seen that we need to end direct provision but there has to be an answer to the question of how we accommodate…

Since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine on 24 February, and the invoking of the temporary protection directive by the EU, my Department has worked intensively as part of the cross-government 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 that seen over the past four months. My Department's role is focused on the immediate short-term accommodation needs of those who have …

The medium-term accommodation needs of the Ukrainians is significant and the Government is examining it. Part of that includes those Red Cross pledges. There are 1,200 people in pledged accommodation now which is a significant support to the State in terms of the accommodation of the Ukrainians here, and those numbers will continue to grow. As the Deputy is aware, we are engaging closely with the Department with responsibility for housing on a range of medium-term accommodation solutions that it is bringing forward…

At the start of this crisis, many figures were thrown around. We have to deal with the figures we see before us. As I said, we have 33,000 at the moment. We are seeing perhaps between 1,200 and 1,400 arriving weekly at this point. It has been fairly steady on that figure for the past three weeks. We build assumptions into the various models we use for our accommodation. We use our models based on a slightly higher figure, just to give us a little bit of room for expansion. That is what we are seeing at the moment a…

The new core funding system announced in budget 2022 amounts to €221 million in full-year costs. Of that, €173 million represents new investment. From the work we have done on this, we see no evidence that suggests services will face viability issues as a result of this significant increase in investment. However, I am engaging with representative groups to understand their concerns and will continue to do so. The vast majority of services, including full-day, part-time and sessional services, will see a substantia…

I met the federation. Officials and I had a lengthy meeting with representatives from the federation. We are continuing to engage with the federation, which submitted a detailed document to us. We do not agree with all elements of it and we are working through it. Core funding is about covering the costs of delivery. One of the key elements here is that as the sessional services, by their nature, have a shorter operating day and fewer numbers of hours per week, their costs of delivery are different from full day ce…

The first year of core funding will be from September of this year. As this is a very significant investment, I ask services to give this a go and work through this. It will be addressed and refined over the years but I genuinely believe this is the way to go and it will deliver the quality the Deputy spoke of. One of the greatest threats to quality is the staff leaving the sector and they are doing so because they are not sufficiently paid. Everybody recognises that. That is what the centre of core funding is abou…

I thank the Deputy for his question. Since I have become Minister, my focus in the area of early years has been on increased public investment going hand in hand with increased public management of the system. Part of that relates to the report I received on 29 March, namely, the Review of Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) Operating Model in Ireland. The Government agreed with that report, which stated that a dedicated State agency is the optimal operating model for the ELC and SAC sector…

I want to create a world-class childcare system that is affordable for parents, which provides quality in care and education to children and which pays staff well. We all recognise that childcare fees should not be a burden for families and we want every parent to be able to access childcare without worrying about what it is going to cost them. That is why I am moving forward with a whole range of far-reaching reforms in the early years sector, which are informed by the recommendations of the expert group, to devel…

There are two separate things here. The review of the operating model will be completed by the end of this year and I will come back to the Deputy with a specific date. On the living wage, a joint labour committee, JLC, has been set up, bringing together employees, employee representatives and employers. They have put forward a proposal on that entry grade pay of €13 per hour and that is out for consultation at the moment. My understanding is that there are further negotiations ongoing about higher rates for a grea…

Every year it is normal for some early learning and care to school-age childcare services to close, while other new services open. Services close for a wide variety of reasons, including retirement of owners or other personal circumstances. Tusla is the independent statutory regulator for the sector. Services intending to close must notify Tusla within 28 days of closure. The numbers of reported closures for the period 2017 to 2021 and to date in 2022 are as follows. The numbers of closures in 2017, 2018, 2019, 202…

The Deputy is absolutely right to put the focus on that issue. I set out three major areas. Core funding will be particularly important for services that are more expensive, such as baby rooms that cater for children under 12 months where the ratio, by its nature, must be higher. In the context of core funding, there is additional financial support recognising the higher cost of delivery. That will make the opening of new baby rooms more attractive to providers. Second, there is a capital investment scheme. We will…

The Deputy is absolutely right about the need to listen and engage and I do. I have met organisations and we have an early years forum with which all sectors are engaged. They have a very close relationship with the officials in my Department. We worked very closely during the Covid crisis and met almost daily at some points. That supported the sector to do such a magnificent job, particularly during the worst parts of the crisis. On the need to reform, we have brought forward the expert group on the funding model …

Ireland ratified the UNCRPD on 20 March 2018. This marked an important milestone in a process to strengthen the rights of people with disabilities in Ireland that has gathered momentum since Ireland became a signatory to the convention in 2007. Ireland's approach to meeting the obligations of the UNCRPD is one of progressive realisation by each year moving forward on key reforms, with the obligations arising from the convention being met over time. Initial priority has been given to meeting legislative commitments …

I take on board the Deputy's passion in respect of this matter. I agree about the long delay between becoming a signatory and ratification. I see that in the context of the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act, which was passed in 2015 and is still not operationalised. That is one reason I am so committed to implementing the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act and removing wardship, which is one of the key areas where we are so out of line with what we should provide for persons with capacity impairments in …

In the previous Government, a commitment was made finally to ratify the UNCRPD. It happened. At the start of this Government, we made a commitment to put a greater focus on disability by creating a Department and taking disability out of the Department of Health. There is a stronger focus on disability, recognising the specific needs of that 13% of the population. That is happening. We have made a commitment to implement the Assisted Decision-Making (Capacity) Act 2015. That is happening in terms of legislation. I …