Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

On the programme itself, I note the Minister's comments regarding child care professionals and the need to value their commitment and professional development. It is vitally important. What does the Minister intend to do to ensure they achieve appropriate pay and ensure their conditions are improved? Is consideration being given to extending the ECCE programme beyond 38 weeks? It is an issue that an awful lot of child care professionals have to register with the Department of Social Protection during the summer and it needs to be tackled very urgently. I note the detail in the Minister's proposals for additional child care subsidy. I and my party advocate a more universal programme. It is something that needs to be considered. On the proposal for the subsidisation of child care costs for children aged between nine months and 36 months, there is a bit of a gap between when maternity benefit comes to an end and the beginning of that scheme. It is a period of three months. That gap should be bridged to address the costs that would be involved in that. It would make a great deal of difference to people.

There has been fair bit of commentary on the access and inclusion model, AIM. It is a new model and it will take time to establish how effective it is. When will the first evaluation of its effectiveness take place? A lot of people rely on it so it is important to ensure it is effective. Subhead B5 seems to be over profile by quite a considerable amount. Over the course of the remainder of the year, will it be possible to meet the demand within that heading or will additional moneys have to be found under additional heads to ensure it meets its required capacity?

A number of child care providers have expressed concern to me about the inspection regime. There is a great deal of administration involved and pressure on child care facilities in terms of inspection by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, the Department of Education and Skills and also by Pobal from an auditing and administration point of view in the community sector in particular. Has much thought been given to how the administrative burden might be reduced and managed?

On the issue of administration and the capacity of child care facilities, has consideration been given to increasing the capitation per child under the ECCE scheme or any scheme? It is something that needs to be looked at in terms of administration, pay and progression of staff.

In her briefing, the Minister referred to the importance of youth as well as childhood. An issue both this and the previous Government have neglected, apart from a successful pilot scheme which seems to have disappeared off the agenda, is the implementation of the Youth Guarantee. I accept this matter falls under the remit of the Department of Social Protection, but the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs needs to work with that Department to get the Youth Guarantee up and running again. Very little progress has been made in this regard and action is desperately needed.