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

We recognise that the affordable child care scheme was a very significant investment in the last budget. It came, however, from a very low level of investment in child care, still one of the lowest in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD. While it is welcome that we are taking steps in the right direction we have a long road to travel. The Minister asked recently for our support in the Dáil to expand that in the budget. She certainly has my support and that of my party in that investment. I hope she has the support of her colleagues in Government and of Fine Gael when it comes to the budget.

How confident are the Minister and Department that in September there will not be substantial numbers of children and families, particularly in urban areas, who will not be able to locate a place and that certain child care providers will not find themselves swamped? I am slightly concerned that the contracting for registrations goes live from 21 August. That seems a very tight timescale for providers to deal with the documentation involved in contracting for September. We all hope that everything goes according to plan and that providers are able to provide as intended but the concern is that there might be chaos in September, when children and families look for this new subsidy and their needs may not be met. I share the concern of other Deputies that the Minister is not in a position to guarantee the time line for the full delivery of the affordable child care scheme for the following September as envisioned in the last budget. It is vitally important that it is possible to deliver the full scheme in September. I note that the Minister has taken account of our last discussion here in respect of family income supplement and rent supplement.

Let me re-emphasise that a great deal of discussion in support of the affordable child care scheme is related to its ability to assist with labour activation. If that is to be the case, FIS in particular and also rent supplement should be deductible and non-reckonable. It would go against the grain of what it is intended to achieve if it was to be reckonable.

I have made a point on sustainability previously but I might make it from a slightly different perspective in respect of the ongoing need for capital investment to ensure that capacity continues to exist. I have raised my serious concerns about sustainability in the community sector. The only way that these providers can make their offering "more sustainable" is either through reducing services or increasing fees for other schemes. These services are primarily provided in disadvantaged area. I have raised issues about the delay in the provision from the sustainability fund. The fund needs to be substantially enhanced. A scheme similar to DEIS has been explored, and it should be explored further. In the interim, sustainability needs to be built into the service. In my view, the Department needs to be outlining its vision for the journey to a publicly provided system. I do not think we should be repeating the mistakes of the past in terms of primary and secondary education. The State needs to be a substantial player in the offering for child care. We need to begin to outline how we get to that destination. Community providers will be a big part of the offering. In the short term, we need to make the service sustainable but in the longer run I believe we need to expand them. The Department need to look at this.