Ms Frances Byrne:

As the Chair said earlier, our CEO sends her apologies. She is attending a meeting with the Department but hopes to be here in time for the follow-up questions and answers.

We welcome the opportunity to present to the committee today about the recently published national action plan for childminding. As the leading support organisation in our sector, we have broadly welcomed the plan. Childminding is regulated in most European countries and Early Childhood Ireland strongly believes the move to regulate the currently informal childminding sector in Ireland is in the best interests of children.

The plan recognises and we agree that childminding plays a central role in the provision of both early learning and care and school-age childcare in Ireland. The plan follows through on the commitments made in the First 5 strategy published in late 2018 and in last year’s programme for Government. It estimates that there are approximately 15,000 non-relative childminders in Ireland. At the moment, the Child Care Act 1991, as we have heard from previous speakers, exempts most childminders from regulation. Currently fewer than 80 childminders are registered with Tusla. One consequence of this is that the vast majority of childminders cannot take part in the national childcare scheme, so thousands of families cannot access subsidies to reduce the fees they pay.

Our second annual childcare barometer, which was published in 2019 and a link for which we have provided to members today, showed overwhelming public support for ensuring regulations and supports were extended to all paid childminders. At that time, 87% of Irish adults were in favour of Garda vetting and basic training requirements for childminding and we believe that this was testament to the importance of this option for families.

The national action plan mainly addresses self-employed childminders who work in their own homes. It is not primarily concerned with au pairsor nannies who work in the child's home. The plan does, however, include an action to develop information and training resources in relation to them. The plan will not extend regulation to those who solely care for children related to them.

Early Childhood Ireland recognises the scale of the challenge in moving childminding from an invisible, informal sector to a regulated, formal sector that sits properly within the early learning and care and school-age childcare systems. Our learning from and experience of transitioning from an unregulated centre-based informal childcare sector to a regulated, publicly funded one highlights the importance of the availability of appropriate supports and phased transition periods.

It is also imperative that the registration process is smooth and clear for childminders. The timing of the phases will need to be signalled well in advance to them and to the statutory and non-governmental organisations tasked with supporting the sector so that we can all be ready.

The action plan sets out a phased approach to reform. Phase 1 will be preparatory, lasting two to three years; phase 2 will be a transition phase, lasting three to five years; and phase 3 will involve full implementation and the end of all transitional arrangements. Early Childhood Ireland believes that the phased approach to reform as set out in the plan is reasonable.

We have a concern about a caveat in the plan about timing, however:

While the end-point is clear [we know that is 2028], the Action Plan leaves open the precise timing of movement between Phases 1, 2 and 3. Given the potential cost to the Exchequer of opening the National Childcare Scheme to childminders, the timing of the transition from Phase 1 to 2 will be Budget-dependent and will depend on agreement with the Department for Public Expenditure and Reform.

The Government must prioritise completing these phases given the interests of children and their families and to avoid unnecessary delays for childminders. The estimates indicated in the plan are not exorbitant, rising to €23 million annually by phase 3. This amount of investment is not beyond the reach of a wealthy country. It is vital that children of all ages can benefit from quality experiences, regardless of whether their parents avail of a childminder or a setting or both.

Early Childhood Ireland welcomes the publication of the National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028. It is a positive step forward, as childminders already play a vital role in the provision of early learning and care and school-age childcare in Ireland. This must be recognised, valued and supported. We hope members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth will play a role, collectively and individually, within their communities to support and promote this plan. Finally, we thank the Chairperson for the invitation to attend today and to the clerk and her team for their support in advance of this meeting.