John Moloney (Laois-Offaly, Fianna Fail)

As I have already stated, research shows that a preschool year is of great benefit to all children, but particularly to those from disadvantaged backgrounds. These benefits extend long after the year, with a much lower likelihood of anti-social behaviour, lower drop-out rates in school and higher lifetime earnings. That is why I am pleased this scheme, while having a number of benefits to recommend it, puts the best interests of the child first.

We already have high standards in the sector with the preschool regulations, and the standards required for participation in this scheme raise the bar higher. This will not affect the highest quality services, but those with lower standards will be required to improve the quality of the service they supply if they wish to be funded under the scheme. preschool leaders delivering the early childhood care and education year will, for the first time, be required to hold appropriate qualifications. They will be required to implement the Síolta framework for early learning and will be supported in this process by Síolta co-ordinators and by the city and county child care committees.

The scheme will encourage workers in the sector to develop their skills and qualifications and this process will also be facilitated by the new workforce development plan which will be published shortly. It will provide a framework for future training and education for early years workers. The national voluntary child care organisations, which are funded by the Department, have already been invited to work to support the new scheme and its implementation of Síolta.

The ECCE clearly provides a real opportunity to bring all of the developments which have taken place over the last decade together in a new cohesive framework which encompasses care and education as intrinsically linked components of high quality preschool provision. This is a very important opportunity to secure the best outcomes for all of our children and I ask the Members of this House to forget partisanship and support the Government's initiative.

Some have commented on the 38 weeks provision, and the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, has received representations from services variously stating that preschools open for a greater or a lesser number of weeks. The reality is that most preschools mirror the local primary school, which will open for 183 days over the course of 38 weeks, and that is the requirement under this scheme.

Some services have argued that they should be paid for weeks that they are not open, saying that they have received fees for these weeks up to now. However, there are a great many services which only charge for the weeks they are open at present, and holiday pay is another overhead absorbed into their costs, paid for from fees received during the weeks the children attend. This will remain in principle the same under the new scheme.

Aside from the benefits for children, there are very significant benefits for the sector itself. The Minister of State has met many commercial child care providers over the last year who have been badly hit by the current economic downturn. As parents have lost their jobs, they have withdrawn their children from child care and preschools, and where their wages have been cut, many have started using childminders.

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