Ms Teresa Heeney:

To conclude, many voices, not only those who work in this sector, have been calling for the development of a strategy to support the early childhood education sector. The European Union gives us country specific recommendations year on year. The employers' bodies, year on year, call for investment, as do organisations, such as the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, the National Women's Council and the Children's Rights Alliance. The voices calling for investment in this sector echo each other all of the time. The door, in terms of policy-making, is wide open. One need not even push it. The development of a strategy which all of the stakeholders could sign up to would show us the pathway as we proceed.