Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I want to pick up on a point raised by Ms Heeney at the beginning, when she talked about how far behind other countries we are in terms of our investment in childcare. One of the clear examples is that while we are sitting here debating a failed attempt to set up a childcare scheme for essential workers long after the peak of the crisis, many other countries had it from the very beginning. That is a reflection of where we are, the lack of investment in the sector and the consequences of that.

One of the things I have been asking and have never got a straight answer on from the Department is in regard to the providers who did not take up the temporary wage subsidy childcare scheme, TWSCS, option. There are two questions. First, why did they not take them up, what are the issues and is there any learning from that going forward? Second, what is the likely outcome? There was concern that many of the providers who were not taking this up were planning to close or might have been forced to close. This speaks to the issue of sustainability, the availability of placements and the cost of placements. If the providers represented here can provide any insight into those issues, it would be useful.

Looking forward, there is the committee on reopening yet what I am hearing from the providers is that they are operating in the dark, there are still a lot of things to be worked out and there is a lack of information. Is this committee working? Are the consultation structures in place good enough and are they working, or should we be looking to change them? Any insight into that from the witnesses would be very helpful.