Seán Sherlock (Cork East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses. Hearings such as this are very helpful in the pre-legislative scrutiny process to help crystallise further one's thoughts on where the legislation needs to go. It is nascent but this session is very helpful and each of the submissions has posed several questions. Even if the Government decides not to take on board the views of the witnesses, members will, obviously, have the right to amend.

I foresee that we will be seeking to amend on Committee Stage along the lines of the submission.

With that in mind, I will start with Early Childhood Ireland, if I may. I would like further clarity in respect of the regulations and Tusla powers. In her opening statement, Ms Heeney said:

One size does not fit all. For example, the current regulations relating to full day care services are not wholly appropriate for sessional or part-time services. We, therefore, ask the committee and policy makers to ensure that any new regulations are streamlined and service-appropriate to reduce the administrative burden for early years and school age service providers.

I have a lot of sympathy for that view. I deal a lot with early childhood care and education, ECCE, providers and the challenges they face to meet regulatory and staffing burdens, and so on and so forth. Our guests may not have the answer to the following today but they might come back to us with a further written submission. How should that work in practical terms? How would our guests delineate between the multiple types of providers in terms of the regulatory regime?