Mr. Gordon Jeyes:

I welcome the opportunity to clarify the role of the HSE's children and family services in the inspection and regulation of early years services. I shall reference specific changes that have been accelerated as a consequence of recent justifiable concerns. I shall also offer some observations regarding the overall structure of State involvement in child care and early learning for children aged zero to five years. I am joined by Ms Annie Callanan, head of quality assurance and Ms Fiona McDonnell, national specialist in early years services.

As the Minister has said, the HSE employs 37.8 full-time inspectors which are unevenly spread across the country as a consequence, in part, of the moratorium on recruitment. Members can read the range of inspection provided by the inspectors in the attached appendix to the report. There are many types of inspections. They range from the large institutions, as part of change that we saw in the film, to small locally based ones and to public provision usually through an external force.

Inspections are carried out predominantly by public health nurses acting as early years inspectors and in collaboration with environmental health officers. Where non-compliance is identified during an inspection or as a result of a complaint, specific action points are agreed and a follow-up is pursued. If appropriate action is not taken by the providers of services or if the infringement is serious, enforcement action is taken in the courts. The number of enforcement actions is low with an average of four per year. In some parts of the country it is difficult to get enforcement action in court. I wish to research the matter further. An average of 250 providers cease trading each year but the reasons for their closure needs to be explored.

The HSE's children and family services commissions early years places as part of its early intervention strategy. However, the HSE does not provide them directly. They are generally provided through a third party such as Barnardos or the Daughters of Charity. There is considerable early years provision in Family Resource Centres that are scheduled to become part of the child and family agency following legislation to be considered by the Dáil later in this session.

In preparation for the establishment of the child and family agency, design work carried out has led to consideration of which services should be managed at a national level or the most local practical level. The management team has proposed and agreed that the early years inspection should be run on a national basis for two reasons, difficulties with resources and to ensure a consistent service is provided. It is fair to say that the project got a little lost within integrated arrangements and needs clear and consistent leadership. As an interim measure, I will shortly appoint an acting national manager of the inspection service but that is subject to further trade union discussion. I want to ensure that we can stand over our current resources and provide consistency, not least in the regularity of inspections. That means that we can at least, with current resources, move to a minimum of 20 months between inspections instead of an average.

For some time it has been agreed that all inspection reports would be readily available online to allow parents make an informed choice about provision for their children. Of course, that follows a tightening up and improved quality in inspection reports. We should make use of the reports. Clearly, there have been resource difficulties. As a consequence of recent events and to reassure parents, the initiative will be brought forward. As the Minister has said, all new reports will be available online by the end of the month and as they become available. Work will be done to ensure that each centre's most recent report is online in the next few months.

In addition, I have commissioned an analysis of the reports of the past 18 months that will be followed by an annual standards and quality report. We can all hypothesise about the exact point of weakness but we need to base it on fact. There were similarities between the three types of provision. Should we focus on them? Is it a particular problem for children on full day placement? We may, within our resources, target the areas most in need of additional regulation and support.

I welcome the early years strategy and the introduction of a clear set of relationships. The initiative will ensure that people are clear about their roles and responsibilities. We need to ensure the following: that there is strategic leadership; that there is a body to drive improvement in the services; that the components, consisting of Pobal, the school inspectorate and the HSE's inspectors, are provided in a singular, consistent and robust manner; and we must strengthen our efforts to ensure compliance.

We, as a society, must consider our approach to commissioning. The approach must be informed by and based on the needs of children and their parents in order to get the right balance between the private transaction that parents want for good child care and the investment that Irish society wants to provide for children aged zero to six years. We must also focus on what we can afford.

Early years provision reflects the need for parents to source high quality child care that promotes the welfare of their children and is a positive experience for them in which they learn to socialise and develop skills. Early years services play a key role as a common good, providing benefits to the whole population. Therefore, Ireland along with many other countries, is still coming to terms with how it will invest in and develop this sector in line with investment in other stages of education. The approach taken to early years provision needs to ensure a high quality service, with management and staff taking responsibility for quality and parents being encouraged to engage with provision. An early years strategy will be welcomed in terms of bringing focus, direction and clarity to this important sector as we seek to bring about better regulation, stricter and more immediate enforcement and higher quality services.