Ms Bernie McNally:

As Mr. Wolfe mentioned earlier, we have looked at what we think the demand will be this year and next year. We believe there is sufficient capacity in the system at the moment. If the Government continues to invest in child care, we will certainly need to build capacity from 2018 onwards in formal settings and in the childminding sector. Childminding Ireland, which is the umbrella organisation with particular expertise in this area, even if it does not have exclusive competence in this regard, is looking at this matter. It is considering the question of whether grandparents and relatives always want to be treated as paid childminders. Some of them choose not to be seen as such. Childminding Ireland is looking at who should be defined as a childminder.

Just 120 childminders are currently registered with Tusla. It is possible that several hundred more could register with Tusla. We would be actively encouraging them to do so. Not every childminder is eligible to register. In order to have such eligibility, a childminder has to be minding three or more unrelated children in his or her own home. At least several hundred childminders could register with Tusla. We hope they will do so. While we want to look at a way to bring the other childminders in, we cannot put State funding into an area that is totally unregulated. We have asked Childminding Ireland to make recommendations to us on what a quality infrastructure might look like and on the minimum standards and criteria we might consider in areas like Garda vetting and paediatric first aid. The infrastructure in this regard must be of a sufficient quality to assure the Minister when she is making regulations and drawing up a list. We want to move towards statutory regulation in the long term, but we are considering what we can do in the short and medium terms.

I did not intend to mislead Deputy Jan O'Sullivan when I said we hope to have the regulations in place after the primary legislation is passed. I was not suggesting that we will necessarily open the doors immediately to childminders or to stand-alone school-age child care services. I expect it will take some time for them to build up to meet the minimum standards that will be required of them. I do not expect that we will be extending it significantly this September. I imagine that it will be more of a medium-term project.