Ms Mary Walsh:

As a working childminder, I just want to say the biggest fear is that we will lose childminders. We have excellent childminders who came through a previous system in the early 2000s and who have continued to keep up their first aid, Garda vetting, training and insurance in the absence of any supports from Government. The only supports we receive are from Childminding Ireland. It is important that childminders have confidence in this process and that they are included and listened to.

Childminding is very different from centre-based care. It is delivered in a family home and the biggest fear that childminders would have is that they would have to turn their homes into mini-crèches. It needs to be recognised for the type of childcare that it is. It is home-based, it is home from home and it is a totally different environment to centre-based care.

All types of childcare can exist. However, in rural Ireland the choice is not there. We need to ensure that there is childcare for the whole country.