Parliamentary questions

241. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to progress the Programme for Government commitment to progressively reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child through the national childcare scheme and explore options to cap costs for larger families. [17997/25]

242. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to progress the programme for Government commitment to ensure childcare providers’ fees are open, transparent and equitable and readily available to parents. [17998/25]

243. Deputy Catherine Ardagh asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide details (as at 1 October 2024 and as at 1 April 2025) on the number of persons working in any capacity on the helpdesk to assist with the creation of enduring powers of attorney at the Decision Support Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18050/25]

244. Deputy Catherine Ardagh asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide details of the level of funding that was provided to the Decision Support Service during 2024, and any such additional funding that has been provided during 2025, for the purpose of facilitating the engagement of additional staffing; and if she will make a statement on the …

245. Deputy Catherine Ardagh asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide details of the expenditure incurred, broken down by year, on developing social media videos on topics relating to the services provided by the Decision Support Service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18052/25]

246. Deputy Catherine Ardagh asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the plans developed to reduce the existing six-month time period that it takes the Decision Support Service to process an application to create an enduring power of attorney; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [18053/25]

789. Deputy Erin McGreehan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on the recommencement of personalised budgets, as outlined in the Programme for Government. [16822/25]

790. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if her Department will assist an early years service (details supplied), which is now without a room as its current room is being developed by the school as an ASD special class; if her Department will help provide an alternative location for the early years service; and if she will make a sta…

791. Deputy Maeve O'Connell asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the way in which her Department is working to improve the accessibility of the online power of attorney system (details supplied). [17299/25]

792. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will commit funding in Budget 2026 to establish a community neurorehabilitation team for the north Dublin area (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17642/25]

793. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when Cavan and Monaghan CDNTs will be reconfigured in line with the new HSE regional structures; if the new configuration will have any impact on the ability of the CDNTs to address vacancies within the services and reduce the waiting times for children in need of assessments or services; and if sh…

794. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to outline the process for a child to be diagnosed with autism; the timeline and application process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16561/25]

795. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is not recognised as a disability; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16564/25]

796. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 974 of 5 February 2025, the plans currently in place to increase funding for the Cork/Kerry region to expand the number of residential placements for people with disabilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16606/25]

797. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth following the Disability Capacity Review published in 2021, to outline the number of additional residential places that have been opened since; the number of which have been allocated; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16607/25]

798. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth when expressions of interest will open for family resource centres seeking to be included in national funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16608/25]

799. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide a timeline for the review of the ‘PLACES | Pregnancy Loss (under 24 weeks) in Workplaces: Informing Policymakers on Support Mechanisms’ report, and whether stakeholders will be invited to be included in this review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16640/25]

800. Deputy Ann Graves asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to increase the number of crèche facilities in the Fingal east constituency given the increasing population of the Swords area of Dublin; the contact has her Department had with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to ensure there are an adequate number of creches to me…

801. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she intends on introducing surrogacy leave; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16652/25]

802. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to confirm that consideration would be given to permitting a child (details supplied) attending an ECCE service before commencing primary school in the autumn to continue to attend a school aged childcare facility during the easter break and summer months, as the family have been informed that due t…

803. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide a schedule of all capital projects being delivered or which have been completed by her Department and organisations under the aegis of her Department since 1 January 2020; and the total project cost of projects in excess of €500,000, or of any other capital projects below thi…

804. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth further to Parliamentary Question No. 971 of 5 February 2025, to provide an update on the new national strategy for women and girls; the date on which she intends to publish the strategy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16726/25]

805. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an update on the development of child and youth impact assessments; the work undertaken to date; how these assessments will be rolled out in the development of policy; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16754/25]

806. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an update on the procurement of an external project management agency to design a project plan setting out key deliverables and dates of Opportunities for Youth: National Strategy for Youth Work and Related Services 2024–2028, in consultation with the identified leads and par…

807. Deputy Aidan Farrelly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will provide an update on the scope of the Your Place Your Space review; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16756/25]