Ms Teresa Heeney:

Like Ms de Buis, I take this opportunity to touch on some issues. I do not want to repeat her comments but I am afraid I may well do so. In describing what a quality service looks like, I refer the committee to the Competence Requirements in Early Childhood Education and Care, or CoRe, report, which was a major European report that examined what a quality service might be and its characteristics.

It refers to a competent system of early childhood education. One characteristic is having qualified staff, with such personnel having time for planning and discussion with parents. The service would be characterised by low ratios and would begin after the child turns one. All the characteristics described by Ms de Buis - having a curriculum that is child-led, play-based and not "schoolified" - are very important. We did not speak in any depth earlier about the issue of competent inspection, monitoring and planning.

Ms de Buis mentioned the number of agencies that inspect early childhood settings now, and the level of bureaucracy that operators and staff in early childhood settings must undertake is phenomenal. There are at least five Government agencies going in and out the door of early childhood settings at any given time. Those agencies have not been tasked to find and create an aligned set of documentation that meets all the requirements. That is unacceptable. I am aware that the committee will welcome Mr. Gordon Jeyes later this morning, and Tusla is in charge of the preschool inspection regime. It is an issue on which we would love to hear his thoughts. We want to know what efforts are being made to align the current inspection system.

With respect to additional needs, we mentioned how an agency is not prepared to take responsibility and never is that more true than with children who have additional needs in early childhood settings. It does not seem to be the responsibility of the HSE, Tusla, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs or the Department of Education and Skills. As yet, nobody has been prepared to stand up, say it is their responsibility and do something about the issue. I tend to agree with Ms de Buis that there is significant evidence that special needs assistants may not be the answer. We refer the committee to the National Council for Special Education, which has developed a new framework that would essentially make available a fund, within a framework, that would be available to a school based on a number of general demographic trends. An amount of money could be allocated to a setting and it would be possible to use that fund to allocate additional staff time if required or equipment. It is certainly worth looking at that.

We recognise there is a big jump in going from €270 million now to the €1 billion that it will cost. Last year, when we spoke to the media about the need to invest €1 billion in early childhood education, one journalist told me I was in cloud cuckoo-land. If that is true, all the Government policies are equally in cloud cuckoo-land, as one may talk the talk but walking the walk will mean that approximately €1 billion will have to be spent if we want to achieve a high-quality system and one which can predict quality at any given time. That is what parents looking for peace of mind want, no matter where a child is being looked after.

Deputy McLellan asked about planning and extension of the existing preschool year. The existing contract for the first free preschool year is not fit for purpose. It does not provide sufficient capitation to be able to afford decent salaries for staff, so we must address the problems with the current year before we begin looking at expansion to a second year. It is a critical point to be emphasised today. Early Childhood Ireland represents 3,500 operators of settings around the country and we recommend to our members that they do not sign any new contract for an extension until they are satisfied they can operate their setting - whether it is private or not for profit - in a way that can maintain high-quality professional staff in the setting.

That is really important. There is a lot of talk about a second year, but nobody knows what will be required to deliver on it. While there are vacancies in many services, in many areas of the country there are no vacancies. Therefore, to say that we are now going to provide a universal free preschool year in every setting for every child makes no sense, because the places are not there. A concerted plan needs to be developed to say how many places will be needed in every county and town in the country for the next ten years and how they will be provided. They have to be built with public investment and delivered by private and not-for-profit organisations. That is the existing mixed model and we have to build on that. Ireland is not unusual but, as each of my colleagues said, we need a system of public investment under which the Government's and the public's money is monitored and inspected and we assure ourselves that there is a good return on investment because we monitor and ensure the quality of it.