Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

On the cost of childcare, the Deputy is absolutely right that childcare is too expensive in this country. Parents pay too much and staff in childcare are not paid enough. That is something we are seeking to resolve. We are taking a step-by-step approach to the issue. We made the call that this year we would focus on supporting services to better pay their staff because we are seeing a huge turnover in staff at the moment. Young people - let us be honest, it is young women - who study for three or four years to get a level 7 or level 8 qualification start in childcare and find they are being paid less than they were in the temporary or part-time jobs they were doing to support themselves at university. That is not sustainable and it is the reason we are looking at the issue. We have established a joint labour committee for the sector and we are seeking an employment regulation order to set a payscale for the different levels, such as entry level, room leader level and manager level, and to have those implemented.

Many service providers are just breaking even and some are not even breaking even. They need additional support. That is why we have provided the core funding. That was one of the recommendations of the expert group. We engaged with the group while it was doing its work and actually brought in core funding before the group reported because we knew it would be central to the report. Rather than waiting for budget 2023, which would have meant waiting for another year, we brought in core funding this year before the expert group reported.

Core funding is about providing sustainability to the services and better pay for staff. In exchange for that, providers must provide a fee freeze so that we do not see continued increases in fees for parents. That is only step one. Step two is the extra investment in the NCS. That was also advised by the expert group, which made a number of suggestions on what we can do with the NCS. One of these was to get rid of the wraparound hours. We are doing that in this year's budget. A second recommendation was to extend the universality of the NCS from the age of three up to the age of 15. Again, we did that in this year's budget. Another recommendation was the introduction of an additional premium for families with multiple children in childcare. We will look at that for next year's budget.

The other step is to broaden the universal subvention, which is 50 cent per year at the moment, and look at what will happen if it is increased. There are a range of options. As I have stated, the work we have to do to make childcare more affordable is not just in the budget this year; it is a continued piece of work. What I have heard clearly from all three party leaders is that there is full commitment across the Government to this investment. We have to make childcare more affordable for parents.

Another key element of the recommendations of the expert group was the idea of a DEIS model for childcare. That would provide the ability to put in enhanced supports for children from disadvantaged communities. That can take several forms, such as the access and inclusion model, AIM, approach, which supports children with disabilities. That comes in seven different levels. Some of them are universal, while others are more targeted to a particular service. We might design something like that in the context of our DEIS approach. Again, I hope to begin work in the budget next year. It will take several years before it is fully rolled out but it is a really positive step, recognising that the education of children does not begin in junior infants any more; it begins in the ECCE programme and we have to support that. Certainly, I am aware in my role as Minister with responsibility for equality that, for example, 10% fewer Traveller children undertake the free two-year pre-school ECCE programme compared with children from the settled community. Education disadvantage is being built in there from day one. That is something we have to combat and I am considering it in the context of the Traveller and Roma education strategy.

In the context of family resource centres, the capital budget this year for Tusla is not huge. It is mainly focused on the maintenance and upgrading of its existing centres. Tusla is currently doing a big piece of work looking at family supports that it provides throughout the country. I know calls for family resource centres have come from the constituency of the Deputy and other constituencies throughout the country. One of the issues we are considering is what additional family support services, rather than centres, can be provided and whether that can address some of the needs in some of these communities. That work is being done at the moment between Tusla and my Department. When it is complete, we can take a step back and look at where or if we are putting in additional family resource centres or perhaps just providing additional services in a particular community.

Finally, in terms of the international protection support service, IPSS, we are creating to help end direct provision, the capital spend is €12.5 million. This year, that will primarily be used for purchasing existing units. We are looking at several larger units, that is, seven, eight, nine or ten bedroom units, that will be used for the accommodation of single persons, but we will also be purchasing several two or three bedroom units. As regards where we are, part of the significant current investment that is provided for the IPSS under this budget will be used to create new funding streams for approved housing bodies, AHBs, for which they can bid, as they can at the moment, and use to start to construct units. We are taking a multipronged approach to this. We are doing some purchase right now, but we are also providing money for AHBs to build units themselves for community-based accommodation, that is, phase 2 accommodation. It is to be hoped that later this year we can start to move towards the planning of phase 1 accommodation, which is the reception and integration centres. It is important to note there is a strong commitment in the national development plan to increasing and providing additional capital funding as we need it in order to end direct provision by the end of 2024.

The pathfinder project is primarily led through the Department of Health. I am happy to engage with the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, on whether there is anything my Department can do to assist in that, but it is primarily led through health. I am acutely aware of the importance of supporting all measures to enhance the mental health of young people. Obviously, the youth services that are funded by my Department - we have a significant €5 million increase in investment this year - are very important to supporting universal service but, in particular, targeted services, such as UBU Your Place Your Space, in areas of high disadvantage. We will get eight new services opened this year, which is really positive, but we are looking at ways of better linking in youth services with wider mental health services. In particular the early intervention part is so important before reaching a situation where CAMHS or other higher degree interventions are needed.