Mr. Mick Kenny:

I will follow up what the representatives from the Dublin 8 alliance were saying. There are areas around the country that have high social needs and issues. The representatives were talking about the DEIS model and there are other areas to consider. My area, for example, has the highest level of deprivation in County Kilkenny but we are not classified as a DEIS area. We need a new way of funding services and we must go back to the drawing board. There are many ways of locating areas of high disadvantage through census information, as used by Pobal. It has an interactive map demonstrating areas of deprivation around the country.

We should also be aware that this is a children's rights matter. We have disadvantaged and marginalised children living in more affluent or working areas. We must ensure any child who needs support can access it, whether that is through community or private means. Recently, we did a survey of services supporting disadvantaged children around the country and approximately 60% came back as community services, with approximately 40% as private services. We must ensure no child is left out and every child should be able to access services.

This affects the national childcare scheme and after-school care because many of the children who would have been eligible for supports under the targeted schemes are now locked out of the national childcare scheme. They are not entitled to any hours in term time, despite many of us realising that this is when children need most support. They need support with homework and a hot meal coming in from school. They need somewhere to go to mix and socialise in a positive setting with trained professionals who would put in place a programme to support their needs.