Peter Fitzpatrick (Louth, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Minister is doing an excellent job at present. The community children's services subvention and the children's education and training supports are excellent. I commend the Minister on the funding of €70 million that has been made available.

I spoke to the Minister yesterday at a parliamentary party meeting about the minimum qualification for early years staff. All of these questions arose in recent weeks. There are many quality staff at present. The biggest problem is that many will not have the qualifications that will allow them to continue. They have done a fantastic job in the crèches. Is there any way in which some of them can be kept involved after September 2015 if they do not reach levels 5 or 6?