Questions

815. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the precise participation rate of early learning and childcare services for the 2026-2027 Core Funding programme year; the number of early learning and childcare services that withdrew from Core Funding ahead of the current programme year; and the number of early learning and childcare services that joined Core Funding for the current p…

151. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if any funding is available through her Department to support the continued operation of a children's charity (details supplied), which provides free books to more than 5,000 children across Dublin 24, but which faces significant funding pressures. [69106/26]

678. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware that Tusla has instructed a service provider (details supplied) that children with special educational needs who turn six years-of-age or older during the 2026/2027 school year cannot join the service from September onwards despite the ongoing shortage of suitable educational placements for children with additional and s…

676. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether core funding is paid for childcare capacity that is frequently though non-consecutively unavailable due to room closures; if her Department monitors cumulative room closures across a programme year; the safeguards in place to ensure that public funds are protected where services are unable to deliver their funded capacity; and i…

677. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether governance arrangements within city and county childcare committees would prevent a chairperson from simultaneously holding a senior management position with a childcare provider, and whether this would represent a conflict of interest; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51652/26]

172. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Nos.1700, 1701, 1702, 1703 1704 of 9 June 2026, to provide details and the content of each phase of the implementation plan for the Pay Transparency Directive; whether these phases will require new or supplementary legislation to existing legislation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46118/26]

764. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will request all HSE health regions to issue a memo to local service providers instructing them to fill out the disability support application management tool form as soon as a child turns 18, similar to that recently issued by the Dublin North East Health Region, in order to contribute to a central register of individuals requir…

765. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been drawn to continual room closures at a childcare facility in Dublin south-west (details supplied) since it was acquired by a new provider; the steps she is taking to address issues around pay and recruitment and retention issues affecting the sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44897/26]

794. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if there is a specific archaeological report for Bessborough in the archive of the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry held by her Department; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45447/26]

795. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will produce the index to the Mother and Baby Home Commission of Inquiry archive and make it publicly available; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45448/26]

1620. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans to review the early withdrawal provisions of the national childcare subsidy scheme with the objective of eliminating the subsidy penalty imposed on families who withdraw their children early; if her Department will conduct a consultation with childcare providers to understand the actual fee structures and charging practices u…

1699. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on the Equality (Miscellaneous Provisions) Bill 2024; when she expects it to be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43787/26]

1700. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when she expects the pay transparency directive will be transposed given the 7 June 2026 deadline will be missed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43793/26]

1701. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether it is proposed to produce a toolkit setting out guidelines for employers on gender-neutral job evaluation and classification based on that published by the European Commission in consultation with the European Institute for Gender Equality to assist Irish employers in meeting their obligations under the pay transparency directi…

1702. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether there will be workshops to assist Irish employers in relation to gender-neutral job evaluation and classification and other obligations arising out of the pay transparency directive; who is proposed to deliver such workshops; when will they be carried out; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43795/26]

1703. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when it is intended for the employee’s right to information regarding pay under the pay transparency directive to be operable; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43796/26]

1704. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality what is intended with regard to the pay transparency directive’s requirement for the involvement of worker representatives given that many Irish employees have no such representatives; whether this requirement necessitates the recognition of trade unions by Irish employers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43797/26]

926. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will publish in full the report on burials at the Bessborough Mother & Baby Home from the Commission's forensic archaeologist in light of the fact that the forensic archaeology reports for the Tuam and Sean Ross Abbey Mother & Baby Homes are provided in the Mother and Baby Commission of Inquiry final and interim reports; …

718. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when she intends for pay transparency for salaries on job advertisements to be introduced; if she expects for this to be in place by 1 June 2026; whether this can be requested of employers prior to legal imposition; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16208/26]

221. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide details of all occasions in which she or her predecessors exercised the power conferred on them under Section 15(3) of the Climate Action & Low Carbon Development Act (2015), which states that ‘the relevant Minister may, from time to time, give a direction to a relevant body requiring it to adopt such measures as are spec…

959. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of WTE speech and language therapist posts, by grade filled at Tymon CDNT as of 4 February 2026, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10388/26]

388. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the expected timeline for the transposition for the EU Pay Transparency Directive, given the transposition deadline of June 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7060/26]

390. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the expected timeline for the transposition for the EU Pay Transparency Directive, given the transposition deadline of June 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7059/26]

832. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will meet with guardians ad litem and their representative body (details supplied) in advance of establishing the Guardian ad Litem Service; the steps she is taking to ensure that the service remains independent of Tusla and her Department given neither of these bodies are explicitly specified under section 35E of the Child Care …

834. Deputy Ciarán Ahern asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to list the roles within public or semi-State organisations under her Department that are excluded from the single public service pension scheme; the number of people employed in those roles, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3611/26]