Ms Frances Byrne:

I would like to answer Senator Ruane, and it will be a short answer. Absolutely, all the questions the Senator raised are really important, and a lot of the time, people will know each other well. The childminder is the mammy from the school, or your sister's best friend, and I am not being facetious when I say that. The history of everyone in the house might well be known, but nevertheless that does not invalidate the Senator's point.

Obviously, Early Childhood Ireland completely supports Garda vetting for childminders and we think it is appropriate. We are reassured by what the Department has put in writing and is saying about all of that. It is really important. However, at some point, there will be a need for somebody to be appointed to do that vetting and, presumably, for legislation. I assume the Garda National Vetting Bureau is going to need a directive of some kind to do that. At that point, all of the questions the Senator raises, including the soft information piece, the relevance of - in inverted commas - a criminal history, and then the sharing of information, are absolutely valid. However, I do not think that is covered in this Bill or needs to be.

All of us in Early Childhood Ireland and beyond want this to work. With regard to childminders, it is really important they are brought into the fold. They are professionals, just like the 30,000 educators who go into settings every day. It is important they are recognised. We know that people immediately focus on the fact that parents will have access to subsidies, but there will be training, first aid, Garda vetting and everything which needs to happen.

For the first time in Ireland we might actually find out how many children are being taken care of in that important part of our early-years and school-age sector. For that point alone, it is really important. I fully agree that all of those issues are important in teasing this through.