Dr. Fergal Lynch:

In terms of the insurance position in the childcare sector, everybody agrees that it is far from ideal that there should be only one provider. Ideally there would be competition and that would always be very welcome. I am not trying to overstate the matter but the costs are relatively low. Ms McNally indicated that the average cost at the moment is €60 per child per year, which is probably quite favourable by comparison with costs in other sectors. This is not to say that in individual circumstances or in a number of cases, childcare providers are not concerned about the costs to them, but it is a relatively reasonable cost at the moment in many instances. However, we are concerned that there is only one provider and we would very much welcome more providers in the market. We will be doing work in that regard with other Departments over the next while. There is a wider issue in regard to insurance generally but, certainly, insurance in the childcare sector is something of concern to us and we would like to act sooner rather than later to see what is possible.

In terms of State involvement, that would be a Government policy decision. For now, we will do what we can to ensure there is a proper service provision for the future. This is something that applies across government rather than to the childcare sector alone.