Dr. Laura Bambrick:

The Deputy is right. Ireland is very unusual. We have 100% private delivery of childcare, 25% of which is the private not-for-profit care that was talked about in areas of disadvantage, and 75% is the private for-profit care. When we are talking about this to members, the model I normally talk about is that period when it was decided second level education was going to be free at the point of use for all teenagers. That was a private model, and over time the Government took over the delivery of that. How did it do it? Instead of new provision coming on from the private market, over time the public provision was provided. As people were retiring out of it, the Government took over then and it became public. It is not something on which we can cut the ribbon tomorrow. Publicly delivered childcare will be a long-term plan. It would be a commitment from the Government that where additional childcare places are needed they would be publicly delivered. It would not be a private model, whether that is private for-profit providers or private not-for-profit providers.