Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister and her officials this morning. We have had two opportunities this week to question the Minister and while this is good, it would be more beneficial if the topics discussed on each occasion were different. Many of the questions I asked in the Dáil have been raised again today so I will focus on a number of core issues.

The community child care scheme is under immense pressure and it is being gravely affected by the cap. No new applicants are being accepted for the scheme and existing participants are suffering because more and more families are no longer eligible for the medical cards they had and are being moved to a GP card. This means community child care schemes receive lower subventions. I am aware of a local group in my constituency which has lost €10,000 a year because of moving from band A to band B. This has had a detrimental effect. Changes to community employment schemes means fewer lone parents opt to work on such schemes in the child care sector, which means more staff must be employed at a time when grant assistance is being lost. This is a double whammy. I am being very parochial, but the town of Moate in my constituency has no community child care facility. A local group is trying to initiate one and has premises, but is not able to access the scheme. We must examine this. We should consider large urban areas with no community child care facilities.

With regard to the early years strategy, what is the estimated resource package which will be ring-fenced to implement the enhancement of quality provision, circular support and workforce capacity? If the strategy is to span five years will impacts be measurable and set against a specific implementation timeframe?

At present the Department's budget has seen a 4.3% decrease since 2009, but the percentage decrease in the youth work budget in the same period is 25.3%. Everyone will agree this is totally disproportionate. Indications from the Department are that a further 10% decrease will occur in 2014. Will the Minister rule this out or clarify it? Earlier in the week, during Question Time in the Dáil, I asked about two actions the Department was to take as part of the jobs plan. One of these actions was not taken, and the other was to utilise youth services to retrain and reskill people so they would be able to take up any job opportunities which may arise in the future. How can these youth services retrain and reskill young people to enable them take up job opportunities when the budget is being savagely cut? Will the Minister clarify this?

I understand the Minister cannot comment on the referendum and I accept this. Do we have any indication on when a decision will be known? Adoption legislation is on hold pending the outcome of the referendum. Is this legislation ready to go? It was one of the big selling points of the referendum. The Minister alluded to the report on the review of child deaths. Will she reaffirm the commitments she made to the committee on the publication of the report? Unfortunately they have not been followed through.