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

The proposals with regard to registration have provoked a great deal of comment on childminding. I would like to comment on them as well. I have advocated the introduction of a register of early years services as part of the package of reforms aimed at improving quality in the early years sector. While the HSE has introduced registration on an administrative basis, this section of the Bill will provide a statutory underpinning, which is important. It will be the first time there will have been a statutory underpinning for these services. Up to now, they were merely required to notify the HSE of their intention to open. One such notification had been received within the appropriate timeframe. Such providers were free to operate without having been inspected prior to the commencement of service provision. That will no longer apply. This section, coupled with the proposed section 58D, provides for the introduction of an early years service register. It will be maintained by the agency and available for public inspection free of charge. At a minimum, the register will contain the names of people who provide prescribed early years services. Such people are referred to throughout the new Part as "registered providers". The register will also contain the addresses of the premises on which such early years services are provided, the number of children each service can accommodate, the date of registration and any other details which may be required by regulations made under section 58B.

Childminding in Ireland has traditionally been viewed as a private arrangement made by parents and has not been subject to any strict regulation. Other countries have started to examine this issue and have taken a variety of approaches to the regulation of childminders. We have encouraged childminders to voluntarily notify their services to the local city or county child care committee. While some of them have done so, the number is nothing like the overall number of childminders who are actually involved in childminding. I suggest that more work can be done in that regard. Childminders could benefit from the kind of support and information that is available. I will continue to actively promote the notification of childminding services and the participation of childminders in quality training programmes. It is extremely important to do so. Clearly, we do not prevent parents from entering into informal arrangements with childminders who are outside the scope of the regulations. It is important for us to disseminate the information that is available. Parents generally know that childminders are outside the scope of the regulations. Individual parents take a great deal of care and time when they are making decisions about who will look after their children. They investigate references and talk to various childminders. As I have said, this activity is outside the scope of the regulations at present.

The future role and regulation of the childminding sector is one of the specific issues of policy I have identified for consideration in the preparation of our early years strategy for children from birth to the age of six. I expect work on this to be completed. As Deputies know, I received a report from the expert group that addressed this issue. We will examine the recommendations it made in this area. I expect work on the development of our early years strategy to be completed later this year. I will review the future regulation of childminders in that context. Many aspects of this complex issue need to be considered. Unregulated childminding has been the care of choice for many parents in Ireland over many years. Some parents would welcome more regulation. We have to ask certain questions. What is in the best interests of children? How do we go forward in this area? There are many aspects to this matter. I am not in a position to introduce regulations in this sector because I do not believe enough work has been done to examine the precise implications of doing so, or how we might go about doing so. It is something to be considered in the future. In the changes I am proposing today, my focus is on ensuring the quality of preschool settings in the first instance. As I have mentioned, subject to a reasonable lead-in time and discussions with key stakeholders, I intend to extend the regulatory regime to school-age child care services as well as preschool child care services. Pending the conclusion of that additional regulatory provision, I would like to turn my attention to the wider issue of childminding and what might be desirable in that section of early years service provision.