Alan Farrell (Dublin Fingal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

It might be difficult for the Minister to recall the following, but one of her officials might be able to support her on it. There was a pilot trial of an after-school care service in County Cork, which a former Chairman of this committee and now Minister of State with responsibility for older people, Deputy Jim Daly, discussed here a couple of years ago. Does the Department have any knowledge of that? It involved the use of a primary school building after school hours to reduce costs to parents and to provide an environment in which a child could do homework, relax and be supported by teachers or suitably vetted third parties. These are the sorts of schemes that are invaluable to working parents up and down the country. My question relates to the fact that I would like to see the State get involved in pushing patrons in particular on schemes like this given that push-back that has been experienced, believe it or not. My view is that we must do as much as we can in the Oireachtas to support parents getting back into the workplace through work activation schemes, in particular young mothers, which would include the State funding and otherwise supporting those nurturing environments. It is something I ask the Minister to consider. There was a trial run somewhere in County Cork and I am interested to hear if the Minister is aware of it.