Beverley Flynn (Mayo, Independent)

Like my colleagues, I welcome an opportunity to speak on this important motion. I am delighted that the Minister of State acknowledged the role played by community volunteers and the considerable local effort that has gone into making these two schemes such a great success story. While it is true that the Government has invested a great deal of money, but for the contribution of the local volunteers they would not have been such a success. Indeed, they are still at it, in collating the data which the Minister of State currently seeks.

I welcome the fact that the Government has created 35,000 places since 2000, but I also have a number of concerns about how the new changes will impact on some of the rural preschool groups in my constituency. I highlighted this to the Minister of State in the past, where there might be a small group of 12 parents, one of whom is working. In one group with which I am familiar only one of the 12 parents is a social welfare recipient but all of the other families are on low incomes, although they do not qualify for FIS. Particularly when one has two or more children who are availing of the preschool facility, it places a significant burden and it will be the difference between these parents making a decision not to send their children to preschool, thus denying them a valuable education and reducing the flexibility of a mother, who might decide to stay at home, to go back to education or engage in part-time work.

I recognise that the Minister of State indicated in his speech to the Seanad that there will be an element of flexibility once the data is collated and I would ask him to look carefully at that because I am concerned about the social mix that will exist in these play groups. I recognise, and I would be the first to admit, that even within my constituency in all cases the money may not have been best targeted at where it is most needed. Indeed, some community play groups operating within towns are in competition with private facilities and people who could probably well afford to pay more are not doing so, but the number of such cases is small. When one compares that number with the level of service being provided throughout my rural constituency, I would be worried about the impact the measure would have on the social mix. I do not know how the Minister of State can devise a mechanism to protect that mix, but it is particularly important that he do so.

One preschool in my constituency is currently receiving a staffing grant of €20,000. Its representatives inform me they will get €6,500 under the new rules. The Minister of State might well respond by saying that the information they provided initially to get the staffing grant was incorrect but I respectfully suggest that the relaxed attitude of the Department and the loose way in which the scheme has operated in the past has contributed to the existing situation. Much capital has been invested providing fantastic facilities that may be in jeopardy because those in my constituency tell me that they cannot afford to keep these going.

I accept the principle of trying to bring about a situation where the money is best targeted at the people most in need. It is the correct approach. However, I would also ask the Minister of State to bear in mind that when he is dealing with rural community it is important to ensure that the social mix is correct and we must devise some mechanism where low income families, which admittedly are not in receipt of a social welfare payment, can be facilitated within the new programme.

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