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

The reason we had this pilot inspection carried out was to inform the development of an ongoing quality regime within early childhood settings. We are absolutely committed to that. It is extremely important. Developing that is an important part of the process of moving towards a second year as well. We should still have the vision for a second year but we need continually to build in quality for children's experiences, whether it is in early years setting or the early years of primary school. There is a number of actions being actively examined and worked on by both Departments. One is enhancing the supports that are available to individual settings to develop the Aistear and Síolta services. Second, we must adapt the existing preschool inspection system to provide an early education inspection and assessment system. Both Departments are actively working on that. It will be similar to what is in place for primary schools. Third, we will review the professional training system for early education practitioners to make sure that we deliver the kind of accessible and affordable training and the appropriate quality for the staff in these services. That can be done by working with the VECs and other providers funded by the Department of Education and Skills. That is the programme of action that is needed in this area. We will be rolling out various implementation actions in respect of each of those in the coming months and years.

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