Ms Fiona McDonnell:

Tusla is no different from any other regulator in that the main difficulty in regulation always relates to the standardisation of practices. We have done a great deal on how we can mitigate that. We have moved to a strong national governance within the early years inspectorate and we have highly skilled and dedicated staff. With the quality regulatory framework we published in 2018 that relates specifically to childminders, we broke down the regulations and were able to state clearly what we were looking for against each regulation. That is there as a guide for us, parents and providers and it is clear what we are looking for, so it goes some way towards standardisation. Another key issue for us in the context of the early years inspectorate relates to consultation with providers and parents on what they expect of us to ensure we meet that need.

On the issue of small breaches on inspection, in the past year, particularly with Covid and Covid-related inspections, we have simplified our language. We have moved away from smaller breaches that can be rectified. If there is a significant risk to children, parents will want to know it was found but we will also state that the premises was compliant when we were leaving it, for example. A certain amount can happen at the closing meeting.

I hope that gives some assurance in regard to what we are trying to do to ensure the standardisation of practices throughout our systems.