Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute on this important legislation. I acknowledge the Minister's presence in the House. I also acknowledge her commitment to the sector, particularly in my county of Donegal. If I am not mistaken, she has made the trip to Donegal five times. That is appreciated by the people involved in the various family resource centres and in the child care sector.

I commend the Minister on meeting the representative groups from the family resource centres in Donegal. There was a meeting with groups from as far away as Moville, Na Dúnaibh, St. Johnson and Donegal town, including Cara House in Letterkenny. At that meeting, the participants welcomed the fact that the partnership model would be the way forward. The Bill will work towards that end. The model involves training, the vocational education committees, VECs, and various agencies while protecting the bottom-up nature of family resource centres. Although we refer to mainstreaming within community development, be it in the youth work sector or at a community development level, we must hold on to the philosophy of volunteerism and ensure a welcoming, accessible front to these groups. This type of philosophy must be protected as much as possible.

The Minister's investment in preschools in my county has been positive. She has put her money where her mouth is in terms of the infrastructure of many of the preschools. Thirty projects are being funded this year. This follows on from a substantial allocation last year. While this is welcome, progressing the training element will be the next step. As the Minister is aware, there are a number of constraints. Although there are extant preschools and everyone involved who I have met wants to upskill and retrain, timetabling is a challenge. If someone works all day Monday to Friday all year, attaining full-time university qualifications in normal programmes is becoming a particular challenge. We must be conscious of this issue in terms of upskilling.

Deputies have referred to the positives of early intervention. One cannot put enough value on what the preschool sector does for children as they progress into primary education. The more we can invest, the more we can empower many of the groups involved, be they community preschools or private preschools. If we can retrain and upskill people, it will benefit the groups.

I wish to suggest a synergy between the Minister's Department and - believe it or not - the Tánaiste's Department. Every year, the Tánaiste focuses on reconciliation funding for groups on a cross-Border basis. There is an interesting project in Newtowncunningham. As succinctly as I can, I will reference what is happening there. As a result of the pressure of population expansion in Derry city, many families have moved into places like Killea and Newtowncunningham. Those parents had been sending their children to schools back in Derry, which is traditionally where they went to school. This sucked the lifeblood out of communities. Interestingly, those families are now sending their children to the preschool in Newtowncunningham. I understand that there are 38 such children from Newtowncunningham and as far away as Killea, if not quite Carrigans. An interesting progression trend is emerging whereby the preschool children of families originally from Derry are starting to attend Newtowncunningham's primary schools. Obviously, the families are building local relations in the preschool setting. Such a project advances reconciliation, pulls people together who would otherwise stay apart, leads to integration and breaks down prejudices and barriers on a cross-Border basis.

The Minister's Department could liaise on this matter with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, under the Tánaiste, Deputy Eamon Gilmore. We should assist this great, exciting opportunity in cross-Border reconciliation in a preschool setting, which will progress into primary schools as well.

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