Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for their answers so far and for their time. I would like to go back over some of the answers we got, particularly what Mr. Bohan said about 50% of children living in jobless households and the structural issues involved. What involvement, if any, does the Department for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation have concerning child poverty? What involvement has the Department of Justice and Equality had, given that we know the importance of investing in children? Although we have not had such a study here yet, all the longitudinal studies in America and the United Kingdom show the benefits involved.

This is particularly the case with the HighScope pre-school programme where an intervention is given to children aged three to five. The study followed those children into their 40s and 50s, and showed that their peers - particularly those from disadvantaged communities - who did not get the intervention, often ended up incarcerated. This is a preventative measure, so the Department of Justice and Equality should have an interest in this area, particularly if we can invest in children from disadvantaged communities.

Some years ago, I had an opportunity to visit Penn State University to work on a project. This involved working with children who were living in chronic disadvantage. That kind of early intervention programme was being delivered by teachers in the local community, in partnership with parents who were being encouraged to become involved in literacy programmes and improve their own literacy. It had a two-fold effect. It showed that the children who did not attend were 50% more likely to end up in trouble with the law. It is a very real point.

In fairness to the witnesses, they are probably like the usual suspects when it comes to discussing child poverty. We invite in representatives of the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, but what are other Departments doing in this regard? If they are not doing anything, what can we do to get them involved? This issue needs to be dealt with in a cross-departmental manner, rather than just involving the usual suspects.

I know that the sex education programme is still being designed. Perhaps the witnesses can comment on the rural issue when it comes to registered child-minders. They should be considered for providing an after-school service in rural areas. Large areas of the country have no child care facilities, so a parent may have to drive 20 miles to drop their child to a centre so they can attend work or retraining. City and county child care committees all over the country have invested huge resources to upskill child-minders who are in a position to mind sibling groups, or drop and collect children from school and elsewhere. They constitute a major resource so we should examine the provision of child care by such people, rather than focusing only on the provision of child care at designated centres.

In Australia and elsewhere abroad, they call it home-based child care or day care. We should examine that because this group of people wants to provide such a service and wants to be regulated. I have had major interactions with them in recent months on this issue, which would be a cost-effective way of providing after-school child care all over the country and not just in urban centres.