Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I will start with the questions I am dying to ask. I thank everyone for their submissions, statements and engagement with the committee. It has been really helpful and it is good we have a gender balance and that it is not just women discussing childcare which is often the case in these Houses.

On practical implementation and on the early childhood education and care recommendations, Ms Byrne noted recommendations No. 8, in particular, and No. 9. No. 8 (a) is truly radical. The citizens' assembly has called for a publicly funded, accessible and regulated model of early years and out of hours childcare over the next decade. My first question, in particular to Ms Byrne and to Mr. O'Connor, is on whether the core funding proposal delivers on that. I was struck by Ms Byrne's point that if the Government stays on track, it may even surpass those recommendations Nos. 8(a) and 8(b) on the State share of GDP to be spent on childcare. We hear her point on the specific Oireachtas committee. It is an interesting additional recommendation that we will certainly consider. Will core funding deliver and, if not, what else needs to be done to bring about the radical transformation proposed by the citizens' assembly? I am struck by how rightly critical Ms Byrne and Mr. O'Connor were of the market and its failure to deliver. Mr. O'Connor put it very starkly not just in giving the average hourly pay of early years educators but also in pointing out that the system is failing staff, parents who lack affordable and sometimes any childcare provision, providers who cannot make ends meet and are faced with the dilemma of having to increase fees if they increase pay and ultimately children from a children's rights perspective. We are failing everyone involved.

I have called for a "Donogh O'Malley moment", in that we would start to see early years education and care as a right for every child where every child is guaranteed a State-funded place in the same way that we now see secondary education as a right of every child which the State subsidises, or indeed pays for. Mr. O'Connor said SIPTU seeks that the Government would assume full responsibility for employee compensation in the sector. Can we deliver on recommendation No. 8(a) without the State taking that on? Is it a prerequisite? How do we get to recommendation No. 8(a)? Is core funding the right way? If not, can anything more be done? We will be providing our report in December when core funding will be in place and hopefully we will have seen a good deal of impact. How will it look if we get to recommendation No 8(a)? We have heard of the Nordic countries. Recently, I looked at the Berlin model of childcare where there is really excellent subsidised childcare which is community provided and often co-operatively provided by parents. How does it look in practice? The providers are still providing but with a State subsidy so it is still decentralised provision. Are the educators all being paid directly by the State as our primary and secondary school teachers are?

I am glad the citizens' assembly referred explicitly to out-of-hours childcare and also after-school care. I have been that soldier. It is not just with preschool age children where families need extra support. It is particularly the case where there is a two-parent family where both parents are working outside the home. After hours provision is so crucial to enabling women, in particular, to stay in the workforce. I have seen really interesting academic research that the ten minute journey from school to home is often the thing that takes women out of the workforce because it can be so difficult to access out-of-hours childcare and transport from the school setting to the after-hours provision if it is out of the school. How do we manage that after school and out-of-hours care?

I thank Mr. Peelo for taking us to the other recommendations on social protection and in particular to recommendations Nos. 15 and 16. I was very interested in his comments. Will he tell us more about the universal basic income scheme? Does he think the pilot in the arts sector has potential for expansion? Could it offer a real lifeline particularly for lone parents?

I thank him for mentioning John O'Mara's case. He will know I have had a good deal of engagement with John O'Mara and commend him on his courage in going public about his situation and the injustice in our failure to recognise cohabiting couples. I extend my sympathy with him again on the loss of his partner. The committee has been very conscious in our deliberations on recommendations Nos. 1 to 3, inclusive, about the constitutional recognition for families that are not based on marriage. That is a really glaring anomaly in our laws and our constitutional and statutory protections. I want to acknowledge that too.

We will go to Ms Byrne first. I am conscious that there is a lot in what I asked.