July 01 2010

Parliamentary Questions

• Number of staff transferred to Dept. Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs
• July provision scheme
• Measures to be put in place to enable the State to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
• Review of Disabled Parking Scheme
• Educational provision planned in the proposed new national children’s hospital of Ireland

PARLIAMENTARY QUESTIONS

• Number of staff transferred to Dept. Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs

Deputy Jimmy Deenihan (FG): asked the Minister for Community, Equality and GaeltachtAffairs the number of staff who have been transferred to his Department in the context of the transfer of new functions for his Department; the location at which transferred staff are based;

Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs (Deputy Pat Carey): As the Deputies will be aware, as part of the restructuring of Departments and agencies recently announced by the Taoiseach in Dáil Éireann to ensure greater coherence and produce more efficient delivery, the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs became the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, incorporating responsibility for social inclusion policy and family policy from the former Department of Social and Family Affairs and for equality, disability, integration and human rights from the former Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. I can confirm to the Deputies that the transfer of responsibility for each of these functions to the newly established Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, is now complete and Orders have been made by Government in this regard. As the transfer of functions process is concluded, it is now my intention to delegate the functions in respect of equality, human rights and integration to Minister of State White and to delegate functions transferred to my Department in relation to disability to Mr. John Moloney, TD, who will, of course, continue as Minister of State with special responsibility for Disability Issues and Mental Health at the Department of Health and Children, as well as the renamed Departments of Education and Skills, and Enterprise, Trade and Innovation. My Department is currently liaising with the Office of the Attorney General in relation to progressing this matter. In relation to the number of staff who have been transferred to my Department in the context of the transfer of new functions and the location at which transferred staff are based, the following is the position:

• 20 staff have transferred to my Department from the Department of Social Protection with social inclusion and family policy functions. These staff are in the process of being relocated to my Department’s offices in Mespil Rd, Dublin 4.63 staff transferred to my Department from the Department of Justice and Law Reform with the equality, disability, integration and human rights functions. 33 of these staff are being accommodated in my Department’s offices in Mespil Rd, Dublin 4, while the remaining 30 staff will remain in Bishop Square, Dublin 8 due to spatial constraints in the Mespil Road accommodation
• A further 69 staff also transferred to my Department from the Department of Justice and Law Reform, who are on secondment to the Equality Authority and the Equality Tribunal. Of these, 16 staff of the Equality Authority are located in Roscrea, Co. Tipperary while 10 Equality Tribunal staff are located in Portlaoise, Co. Laois. The remaining 43 staff are located in accommodation in Clonmel Street, Dublin 2.

For the sake of completeness, responsibility for the National Disability Authority, Irish Human Rights Commission and the Family Support Agency also transferred to my Department, with a total of 86 public servants working in these bodies. 

• July provision scheme

Deputy Ruairí Quinn (L): asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if the special educational needs division of her Department offers a programme to autistic children known as the July provision; if she will outline the distinctions between the way this scheme works for schools and for parents who opt to hire a teacher directly; if there have been any changes to the payment of this provision which will result in a delay of the payment until November 2010; Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Mary Coughlan): The July Education Programme is available to all special schools and mainstream primary schools with special classes catering for children with autism who choose to extend their education services through the month of July. My Department also provides for a July Programme for pupils with a severe/profound general learning disability. Where school based provision is not feasible, home based provision may be grant aided in which cases the parents have to source and fund a qualified teacher to undertake the tuition. The cost of home based tuition is then reimbursed to the parents by my Department. There has been a steady increase in the number of schools offering the programme since its introduction. In 2010, the common pay date has been changed from 30 September, as in 2009, to 11 November. This decision was made after consideration of available staffing resources within my Department. 

• Measures to be put in place to enable the State to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Deputy David Stanton (FG): asked the Minister for Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs the legislative, administrative and other measures that need to be put in place to enable theState to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; if his Department has now assumed the chairmanship of the inter-departmental committee on the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities; the number of times this group has met to date;

Minister of State at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs (DeputyJohn Moloney): It is the Government’s intention to ratify the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to ensure that all necessary legislative and administrative requirements under the Convention are being met. The National Disability Strategy in many respects comprehends many of the provisions of the UNCRPD. In addition, the Inter-Departmental Committee on the UNCRPD monitors the legislative and administrative actions required to enable the State to ratify the Convention. The Committee has developed a programme on which work is progressing, to address the matters that need to be aligned with the UNCRPD. One such requirement is to bring forward the Mental Capacity Bill, which is the responsibility of the Department of Justice and Law Reform. As indicated in the Government Legislation Programme, it is intended that the Bill will be published in this parliamentary session. The passage of the Bill will add substantially to the overall progress on implementation of the requirements under the Convention. The Inter-Departmental Committee, which is chaired by the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs since 1st June, has met on six occasions to date and its next meeting is scheduled for the Autumn. 

• Recommendations of the vaccine damage steering group

Deputy Denis Naughten (FG): asked the Minister for Health and Children if she will make a decision on the recommendations of the vaccine damage steering group which she received more than 15 months ago; her views on whether it is acceptable that the elderly parents of profoundly disabled children should have to wait so long for the report and for her Department’s decision on its recommendations;

Minister for Health and Children (Deputy Mary Harney): The report of the Vaccine Damage Steering Group is available to everyone on my Department’s website (www.dohc.ie). My Department is currently examining the report in detail and expects to have proposals for my consideration later this year. 

• Review of Disabled Parking Scheme

Deputy Michael Ring (FG): asked the Minister for Transport his plans to publish the document on designated parking badges and bays;

Minister for Transport (Deputy Noel Dempsey): A review of the Disabled Parking Scheme has been carried out by my Department. I have considered this review and approved its recommendations. Work on implementing these recommendations is under way in my Department. The report will be published in the near future. 

• Educational provision planned in the proposed new national children’s hospital of Ireland

Deputy Seán Barrett (FG): asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills the educational provision planned in the areas of primary, post primary and special needs education for patients in the proposed new national children’s hospital of Ireland;

Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills (Deputy Mary Coughlan): I can confirm to the Deputy that my Department is currently liaising with the National Paediatric Hospital Development Board (NPHDB) in the context of the accommodation to be provided for education purposes within the proposed new National Children’s Hospital of Ireland.

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