Ms Frances Byrne:

That was a very insightful commentary. I agree completely with the Senator regarding the gendered nature of the sector. One of the things we often talk about is looking at early years and school-age care through a number of lenses. As the Senator noted, despite progress and many of us wanting it to be different, it is a hugely gendered issue on the demand side. It has a significant impact on working mothers whether we like it or not involving such things as cost. This is not right but we also have a very gendered workforce and I include childminders in that. Providers are overwhelmingly women who are all doing brilliant work but it would be wonderful to see more men in the sector. A total of 98% of staff in settings are women. What we really need is more investment so that salaries can increase and it becomes a viable career.

I also welcome what the Senator said about Covid. We saw the sharp end of the way society can fall apart. Many childminders were already working in pods. Centre-based care had to catch up with that, so we learned a lot about our sector very broadly. I do not think anybody has all the answers to the questions asked by the Senator. As Ms Heeney said, it is about getting people around the table and making sure the people who are involved every day and know best are involved in the decision-making about that with obviously the best interests of children central to all our shared concerns. I have no doubt that this will be the case. There is a need for qualifications of some kind. It should not necessarily be the same as what is currently expected from those who work in settings. That said, workforce development planning is ongoing and will report by the end of the year. There is currently a childminding working group,which presents us all with an opportunity to influence what comes out of that so by the end of this year, we will have some answers and guidance. I know that Early Childhood Ireland and other organisations have been working very hard in those forums.

I agree that the time is reasonable but the Government must really get serious about this both in terms of investment and communicating with parents, society and childminders most of all. We often refer to parental choice. What Early Childhood Ireland wants to see is that by 2028, parents will have genuine parental choice. At the moment, there are parents who would love to choose a crèche, childminder or a combination but as we heard from a member of the committee, cannot make a choice because of where they are. It is about ensuring that everybody is brought in so that parents can fully act in the best interests of their children and make all those decisions appropriately.