Mr. Gordon Jeyes:

With regard to the other points, I am almost nostalgic for Scotland. In 2005, Scotland was having the same debate, namely, a debate on what it believed its early-years service was. Those in the education sector were not exactly putting their hands up to volunteer to participate. I was at that time Scotland's sole integrated director of services. What I describe affects the early-years sector because it is not just an education sector, a care sector or a health sector; it is all of these, and one cannot distinguish one from the other.

I get irritated when the sector is called the pre-five sector because four-year-olds deserve the right to be four; being four is not a preparation for being five. It is a matter of standing up for the right to be four. In some ways, this reflects back on the sector. We cannot quite work out whether it is about keeping them away so we can work, or whether it is about their socialisation. The balance between the private transaction that families want and the common good must be borne in mind. The debate is welcome as it will ensure Irish society as a whole will be clear on what is important to it in regard to early-years education and where it is desirable to pitch investment. For me, this underpins much of the work I am doing right across the sector. Irrespective of whether one is dealing with children in special care or children in foster placements, it is about the attitude to children and respect for them. It is about trying to come to terms with that in an Ireland that has coped with change at an enormous speed. It is now declining and reflecting back to a particular period when change happened very rapidly, when Dublin expanded and extended families and inner-city links were broken. These were the great strength of Irish communities. Family patterns have changed because of the new Irish and various practices, and it is to these that staff and others must adjust. It is that context that chief executives and others need guidance and advice on resources and top priorities. It is in this area that this debate is invaluable, but at the end of it we need to have clarity of responsibility and clarity regarding society's priorities.