Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I am glad Mr. McCarthy mentioned that funding because I hope we will start to see in the autumn the delivery of service connected with that. It is a very significant increase in funding and I have to accept that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is doing a fantastic job in allocating that and driving that agenda. It shows, however, that the only logical way forward is for us to move towards a system whereby the State largely funds childcare in a more direct way and with more control over governance. A total of 14% of contracts under ECCE were identified as being non-compliant, but I have concerns about whether that phrase is even appropriate in this context. These are very small operations in some cases, and we are holding them to account for being non-compliant when the Department itself is struggling with non-compliant procurement. We really need to support ECCE providers more, provide better governance in order that we can control it and ensure the significant funding that has been delivered will reach the service and parents and that we will move towards this model of a more national system.