Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I greatly welcome that, particularly in view of the fact that we heard from our previous witnesses that there are instances where some insurance companies are not giving refunds or are not extending the time limits on cover.

My next question pertains to the administrative burden on small crèches, many of which began operating in people's homes as a form of self-employment. We heard from a witness that she was up until midnight filling out forms. It is like the GP system, where the State wants to load all of the administration, insurance, risk and cost onto individuals and get a universal service in return. Does anybody ever think about lessening rather than increasing the administrative burden on childcare providers?

I appreciate that there is a tendency for civil servants to just say, "Oh, we will create another form for people to fill in", without ever thinking that this is something ordinary people have to do and that they cannot just walk away and not do it. This is not a nine-to-five job and it involves people sometimes staying up until midnight, trying to fill in forms. The same is true of GPs but I have more sympathy for childcare providers because they are typically less well remunerated than GPs.