Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This in some way is related to the points I made earlier. Amendment No. 7 seeks to delete lines 29 and 30, which immediately follow the point I made in regard to the "provider" person. The Minister wishes to delete subparagraph (a) and substitute a new subparagraph, that states more concisely that a "provider" means a person "who provides a relevant service". My question is complicated. I would have been open to accepting a positive reply to my earlier question on whether child minders are included, but I did not get it and the Minister's response was that they were purposely excluded. I am concerned. My concerns are added to because we have amended the definitions and added to page 7 of the Bill that "provider" means in regard to a relevant service, a person "who provides a relevant service", yet we are told that child minders are excluded.

Amendment No. 10 to section 8 inserts a new section, which in this instance is excluding the other relationships that we have referred to in terms of a one-to-one or one-to-two, excluding family relationships. We spoke of child minding cases, such as the grandmother, a personal friend with no commercial considerations or minding that is undertaken on an occasional basis. My concern is that in the wider area there is a strata of activity across the board that provides, either in a home or a number of homes, a service that involves more than one child. My concern is about the child. This comes back to what Deputy Catherine Byrne said. These are businesses and people are earning. Their compliance with tax regulations is secondary to my first concern in this instance, which is the child or children in their care.

There is a considerable gap between the provision proposed by the Minister to exclude those who have a family relationship, those who may have a personal relationship with no commercial return and those involved on an occasional basis at school sports or community event or activity on the one hand, and the multiple person employer and employee on the other hand, which constitutes a strata of activity engaging with children across the country, providing a service. It is commercial, it is paid for and is located in a multiple of settings, either in the home of the provider, the home of the child or children, or in doing a circuit of a number of hours per day or hours on different days in any week. A number of children are involved. I am only highlighting that this is not provided for in the Bill. I will be supporting the passage of the Bill and my colleague, Deputy McLellan, will be dealing with it. We are tasked with ensuring, through scrutiny of the Bill, that it covers all bases and is fit for purpose. I believe I am shinning a light on a layer of activity that involves children, and on a significant omission by the Minister's own admission at the outset when he said these aspects were being purposely excluded. I hope the record will conform that.

I ask the Minister and his officials to note the points I have made and address them.

I hope the record will confirm the term "purposely excluded". I appeal to the Minister and the officials from his Department to note the points I have made and to address this matter because it will not be addressed with any greater certainty than by amendments presented by the Minister. These particular amendments only add further weight to the points that I have raised.