Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The first thing I have done, which is important given the budgetary situation I inherited, is to ensure I got the extra budget I needed to keep the ECCE scheme available as a universal service for all three to four year olds. I also ensured that we can continue to provide the community childcare subvention programme and the CETS programme which assist parents in education and training. As the budgetary situation improves and finance becomes available it is one of the areas on which I would like to focus. Currently, I am keen to ensure we maintain the current range of services. That is why I was pleased that the budget in my Department and the part of the HSE budget that deals with child and family support services were increased by 4% at a time when many Departments face huge cutbacks.

It is expensive for the State to provide child care. I wish it was possible for us to do more at the moment but I want to maintain what we have and focus on quality because that matters as well in terms of the delivery of services. We must continually examine the quality of schemes and the inspection regime. A range of areas require attention and I am currently focused on them.

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