Parliamentary questions

537. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her attention has been drawn to the comments of the President of the High Court in relation to decision support service (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53648/25]

538. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 2408 of 29 July 2025, to detail the reports on the monitoring and oversight taking place since April 2025 regarding the transfer of wards of courts to the decision support service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53649/25]

539. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she will consider a location (details supplied) to be equivalent to a mother and baby institution for the purposes of determining eligibility to receive a financial award under the mother and baby institutions payment scheme, where an individual spent time at both this location and at a scheduled inst…

540. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the policy for the cap on childcare fees for parents whose children attend facilities for less than 50 hours per week (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53669/25]

541. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the supports she is providing for family resource centres; if she will commit to delivering requests from the Family Resource Centre Forum which is calling for Budget 2026 to include €240,000 core funding for each of the 121 family resource centres, joint TUSLA-HSE investment in counselling services, dedicated capital…

542. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will consider removing the means test as a qualifying criterion for blind welfare allowance, in recognition of the additional financial burden experienced by people who are blind or vision impaired; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53833/25]

543. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the locations within Dublin 5, 13 and 17 where young parent support programmes are located, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53844/25]

544. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the average waiting time for an occupational therapist to make an assessment for a housing adaptation within CHO 9 area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53845/25]

545. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on the progress being made in relation to reviewing the 2001 planning guidelines for childcare facilities; if an audit of facilities granted planning permission to date would provide important insights into their effectiveness as part of this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53866/25]

385. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the status of an application by thalidomide sufferers to a foundation (details supplied); when she expects that the applications will be processed and payments made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52734/25]

386. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children registered for early years and school age childcare for the 2025-2026 programme year; the number which were registered for the previous three programme years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52627/25]

387. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children who are registered for ECCE for the years 2025-2026; the percentage of the total number of children registered for early years and school age childcare for the 2025-2026 programme year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52628/25]

388. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children who are registered for ECCE year two for the 2025-2026 programme; the percentage of the total number of children registered for early years and school age childcare for the 2025-2026 programme year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52629/25]

389. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has engaged with early years providers regarding possible changes to the daily time allocated to the ECCE programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52630/25]

390. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has engaged with early years providers regarding possible changes to the daily time allocated to the ECCE programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52631/25]

391. Deputy Duncan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to outline the details of the new maximum childcare fee cap for learning and childcare services, to include details on when the fee cap will be rolled out; the process for parents to apply; the qualifying criteria, if this is means tested, and what parents need to do to register for this cap; and if she will make a s…

392. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will prioritise the provision of community based, not-for-profit early education and school age childcare services in public buildings, such as schools, over corporate, for-profit providers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52672/25]

393. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 318 of 18 September 2025, if she will instruct her Department to provide supports to carers of children with additional needs in order to purchase necessary equipment to safely travel with their children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52746/25]

394. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans to implement the recommendations of the 2024 PLACES report commissioned by her Department on pregnancy loss. [52791/25]

395. Deputy Donna McGettigan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of equipment issued under AIMS in 2024, and for the first eight months of 2025; the type of equipment issued, and time it took to for the equipment to be issued; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52796/25]

396. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality how the NCS IT system was able to process applications in respect of school-going age for 41 hours per week. [52806/25]

397. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the actions taken by her Department on foot of the fault in the NCS IT system; the resources allocated to the follow-up inspection; and the number of services inspected as part of this investigation. [52807/25]

398. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason parents have to renew their NCS eligibility every eight weeks; and the plans she has to lengthen this period. [52808/25]

399. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when exactly early years services will receive the additional supports committed to them on foot of the reduction in the fee cap from 1 September 2025; and if such support will be backdated to 1 September. [52809/25]

400. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason for the discrepancy in funding available to providers of after-school services for between junior and senior infants and first to sixth class students in the case of a childcare service (details supplied) and that funding for first to sixth class children does not cover operating costs; and if she will make…