Mr. Gordon Jeyes:

My apologies. So far as training is concerned there will be a ring-fenced budget. It is always a difficult term. Areas will all have training budgets and there is a national training service, which is not singled out for any more reductions than the rest of us. Within our business plans, we should have a target amount of the staffing budget which is allocated to supporting training. Training is a personal responsibility, particularly for the professional group. As employer, we have a responsibility to provide opportunities and experiences for training. The committee should be looking for a specific amount in our budget that we would allocate to training and in respect of which we would be held accountable.

I apologise for missing the question on child care workers. It gives me the opportunity to rehearse again that we play only one small part. My understanding is that a huge amount of work has taken place as the early years service in Ireland is modernised. Its oversight rests with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and we play our part as regulator. There are issues of training, employment of improvement staff, the audit of revenue and capital resources - the last rests with Pobal and the Department of Education and Skills has an interest particularly on the curriculum side. I am not the best placed to answer the specific question on qualifications as it does not sit within the regulator's remit. We are still committed to consulting on how we implement the standards, once the standards are confirmed, but as Deputy Troy said they have not yet been issued. Our commitment is to consult with the sector on how we take that forward. We are aware we have made that commitment. As soon as we get that confirmed we will do that.

An oversight on my part was that I did not respond to Senator Colm Burke's question. If parents decide to hand over the education of a child to the State, the responsibility rests with the Department of Education and Skills. It is our responsibility to make sure that children attend school. We also have oversight of scrutiny of places when children are educated other than at school. I do not know the details of the institution to which the Senator referred but I accept that we need a broader range of education facilities. Not all of us are suited to classroom learning. Some of us benefit from more practically-based learning. The results that one sees from our special care establishments are because in the past few years, with our encouragement we have taken a much more practical based approach to getting young people to engage with their learning and to learn through doing. The legislation confirms that the education welfare service will have the capacity to give guidance to a school, that it has to accept a youngster where buck passing has gone on and to handle that sensitively. Schools are under pressure in these times of scarce resources but we need to ensure that young people get the education they deserve. Schools are fully supported and resourced to be inclusive because that is the best type of early intervention.