Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The issue in regard to childminders is actually broader than the point Deputy Troy is making on staff who had a particular responsibility for childminding. It is interesting that, during the period when there were people with particular responsibility for working with childminders, there were still only 1,200 childminders registered out of perhaps 30,000 or 40,000. With regard to getting them to register and link in, there are other factors at play. It is not simply a question of what is available at the local child care committee. When there was a dedicated member of staff, there was still a very low number registering. In Donegal, for example, six out of 300 childminders are registered. The sector is so informal that it appears that trying to get childminders to link in with the local child care committee, do their work in a more formal way and avail of training supports presents a difficulty. There is a childminders' organisation that my Department funds to quite a high degree. There is more to this question than the approach that has been taken so far. It deserves further study and understanding of what precisely is happening.

We must consider the resources available for early years services. There is much work to be done on early years services to which parents are entrusting their children. Much work has not been done to date on training, qualifications and inspections. We now need to focus on this work more and plan it. Childminding in other countries has been brought into the net but it is often after some of this other work has been done. This is an issue, of course. I encourage every childminder to link in with child care committees and avail of the supports and services that exist. A range of factors determines whether a childminder will do so, as we can see. The arrangement did not work over the past ten years in terms of getting childminders to register and become involved in the formal network. Many parents are of the view that determining who should mind their children, be it a neighbour or childminder, is a private decision and that this is how it should be.

That is the view of some parents out there as well. Committee members might want to comment on that, but that is a decision many Irish parents take as opposed to using the more regulated service where other children attend as well. That is ongoing.

The indications in relation to the after-school service, as stated at the committee previously, were that those signing on with the Department of Social Protection wanted more all-day services as opposed to after-school services and that is why we have brought in the new scheme this year for community employment. That, rather than after-school service, is where the demand would seem to be.