Ms Fiona McDonnell:

I have concerns about the Deputy's point regarding the request to remove a carpet. Our core inspectors are assistant directors or public health nursing. Our current inspector assistant directors took eight years to get to that level and in addition there is a requirement for five years' experience. That means that 13 years is required of public health nurses before they can apply for inspection. Public health nursing has a qualification in and a major understanding of child development. It would very much look at the care, welfare and development of the child within services. Regulation five specifically deals with it in considering supports for child development. Sometimes there is a misunderstanding with regard to the quality frameworks and inspection services. The threshold required for Aistear and Síolta is much higher than is currently required within the regulations and specifically regulation five. We are very satisfied that we inspect in accordance with current regulations.

With regard to the safety aspect of the question about the carpet, when we examine registration within the new regime and the move to standards-based inspections, it is important that we consider the premises, facilities, lighting, ventilation and similar issues at the beginning. The core component of inspection will be examination of the care of children, their experience, available play, suitability of staff and so forth. The big difficulty is the numerous regulations and requirements within the legislation. With registration and standards-based inspections we welcome the different stages in which we will be able to view the issues and give essential time to them. The interaction and childhood experience within services is where our attention will go.