Mr. Gerry McKiernan:

If there is a risk of infection or an eventuality affecting the safety and well-being of a child, such issues must be kept in mind. The staff currently deployed as inspectors are well qualified and from professional backgrounds. They are nurses and environmental health personnel. We are discussing with the Department and the Minister the focus on the key areas of inspection that must be targeted. We are considering what specialties, as appropriate, should be available in terms of inspector capacity to address in particular the care considerations for children in preschool or early years settings. Those professionals have a perspective from training, clinical experience and practice with regard to early years development and what constitutes good care practice for children in all settings.

I take the Deputy's point on the need to keep that under review. There is also the implementation of new statutory and regulatory requirements and a key focus must be maintained on training, upskilling and enhancing the capacity of the current cohort. We need to keep an open mind on where we go with further developments in this regard. We are open to consideration in that regard.