Ms Teresa Heeney:

I shall add some factual information. We have about 4,600 services in Ireland and the number is increasing. A number of services close every year but there are still about 4,600 services, which amounts to more than all of the primary and secondary schools put together. All of the services require inspection and mentoring and all of the State infrastructure needs to happen in 4,600 services. This is part of the reason that Early Childhood Ireland believes that a capacity planning exercise is essential. We need to know how many services are needed and where they are needed in exactly the same way as the Department of Education and Skills knows where it needs schools to be located, how many and the number of pupils attending. We take the view that the same must happen in the early childhood sector.

Of those 4,600 services about 1,100 services are provided by one person. We must be mindful of that fact and analyse whether that is a good model or the best model. It is inevitable that we have a one person model because the current level of capitation is simply not enough to employ two members of staff. In 2014, 14% of the staff who worked in the sector signed on the dole for the eight weeks of summer because no capitation was provided, which is another cost to the State. The situation does not do anything for the recruitment and retention of well qualified staff, which is the essential reason quality and sustainability are so interconnected.