Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Regarding the additional and special needs, I greatly appreciate the two days per week in one year and the three days per week in the following year. However, when the providers appeared before the committee, I asked them, from an employer's perspective, how they managed it. How does one get the staff? One has to know what is required as one goes down through the ratios of two days per week versus three days per week. If the child does not attend, they are expected to return the money even though they have paid for the staff member. All the cards appear to be held by the Department, not the providers. Is the Department considering some type of anticipatory model for additional needs? We have very good statistics on children to know, on average, the needs that will be presenting geographically. Is there a way we could examine a model to anticipate? If there were additional needs above that, perhaps that could be brought into consideration.

Regarding after-school care, will the Department be introducing clear guidance and regulation for that area? One of the questions I have been asked is why the ratios will change if one has a child or children in the classroom. There is a primary school teacher in charge of the classroom but when it switches to after-school, the ratios increase. Again, it goes back to the value-----