Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank Dr. Lynch for his presentation. The issue of the crisis in the quality of child care in the State has come up repeatedly during our hearings. The Government is about to be monitored on quality. The European Council of Ministers last week approved the employment performance monitor for 2015. For Ireland, the report identifies the availability of affordable and quality child care as a key challenge for Ireland and one the Commission will monitor. Is the Minister serious about improving quality? The Department of Children and Youth Affairs recently rode back on the minimum qualifications for child care workers, as Deputy Troy stated earlier. What is the reasoning behind this and how does the Minister intend to put the issue of quality firmly on the child care agenda?

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has published a list of questions for the Government. Question No. 12 asks that the Government provide updated information on measures taken to provide early childhood education, particularly for children with disabilities, and provide information on measures to ensure teachers and schools are provided with the necessary training and resources to address the needs of children from ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. Given the significant barriers to access for children with disabilities in this State, what does the Minister plan to do on this?

There was a proposal last week suggesting to increase investment to facilitate lower child-staff ratios to support children with special needs. There is a different group looking into special needs, according to a letter we got from the Minister last week. Could this be considered and is the Department suggesting the capitation rate should be increased for children with special needs? Does this include SNA support?

The other issue with special needs is whether there will be a guarantee to a full second free preschool year for children with additional needs. Such children have broken-up time over two years but my party believes this is detrimental to their progress. It has been brought to our attention that sometimes children are not diagnosed in the first year, they may be diagnosed late on and they may have to go home for a year if the parents cannot afford it. This latter issue is significant. It has come up on a number of occasions that perhaps we should look at providing at least two full years which the parents or guardian could break up in whatever way they wish.

On the issue of the registration of childminders, my party estimates that 50,000 children are being cared for by 19,000 childminders who are not related to them, and only 1% of those childminders are registered with the HSE or Tusla. What are the Minister's plans to implement a system of registration, inspection and support in order that childminders do not work in complete isolation, as they do currently? Is the interdepartmental group considering any subsidisation of the cost of childminding and childminders, subject to childminders meeting agreed criteria?

The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in its recommendations, referred to the need to speed up the enactment of the family leave Bill, and to introduce a statutory entitlement to paternity leave for all fathers. Is that being considered?

The issue of tax credits also came up. The feeling from many whom we met is that it would not benefit those who are most disadvantaged. Does Dr. Lynch have a position on it?

Is the Department looking at increasing the capitation grants? If so, is there any indication of how much they would be increased by?

On community employment schemes, how does the Government plan to use participants on community employment schemes fairly and in a way that does not replace regular employees? Does the Department have a position on that?