Ms Teresa Heeney:

The out-of-school system is complex. I am looking forward to the report of the interdepartmental group. The programme for Government committed to exploring the use of school premises to deliver on the policy issue of the need for affordable and easily accessible out-of-school care. Some members of our panel made a presentation to the interdepartmental group during the summer. We expect the report to be published in a couple of weeks' time.

Many factors arise. It is a five year old and a 14 year old, so it is not easy to get it right. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs engaged in a consultation process with children about what they would want from an out-of-school setting. I am interested in hearing what they said and seeing how impactful on the report's recommendations their feedback has been. Were I to guess, the older children get, the more they want to go home. If they cannot go home, they probably want to go to friends' houses. If they cannot go there, they will tolerate going to their grandparents' houses. It will be something else after that. This is their voice and if we want to give children some agency in decision making, that is what we expect to see. However, what children want is not always what they get and it may not always meet parents' needs.

We must ensure that we offer leadership at policy level in terms of what is good for children. What is not good for them is an extension of their school day in a classroom that is not fit to accommodate them from 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. if their parents commute. Ms Hilliard and I commuted into town this morning. It took her two hours. This is the reality for people. We must be clear about what we are discussing and what we envisage when we talk about the use of school premises. We mean that children aged five, ten or 14 years will be in that room from 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. or 6:30 p.m. We must bring leadership to this issue and make decisions on whether this is in the best interests of our children. If they set out on their school journeys at five years of age after having had a fantastic experience in preschool playing, as Ms Hilliard described, should that suddenly transform into being in a school from 7 a.m. until 6 p.m. until they are 12 years of age? That is probably not what we want for our children.

The training needs of the people working with these children are complex and the sector is not regulated. There is no inspection of after-school services. A preschool inspector can walk into a service in the afternoon. The door on the right-hand side will lead to the out-of school room and the door on the left-hand side will lead to the preschool room. The inspector will go through one but not the other. The children in one room are five years of age and the children in the other are six and a half. The inspector will not go into the latter room because there is no regulation. We must address the regulation of after-school services.

This all forms part of the infrastructure that Deputy Funchion alluded to when discussing a full early years strategy. There is much to do. The committee will not be able to stop discussing these issues for some time.

Does Mr. Geoghegan wish to answer the factual questions?