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

In the short time available to me, it is important to acknowledge the new departure in recognising the youth sector and establishing a Department for youth affairs. I also acknowledge the Minister's passion and compassion for what is an important sector. These are reflected in the infrastructural spending of recent years, but we are playing catch-up. When I was a youth worker 15 years ago, I used to discuss the Swedish or Scandinavian model of early school intervention for children. While it is important that we acknowledge the work done to date, let us be honest - we have a long way to go. The Minister would be the first to say that it is a challenge she is willing to address head on.

This motion refers to access and costs. Leaving those challenges aside for a moment, it is important that we acknowledge the advocates, the people involved on a voluntary basis, the child care committees and the practitioners who are working hard at the coalface. Parents using preschool facilities are entrusting their three and four year olds to service providers in the knowledge that they are being looked after. We must reciprocate, in that we cannot take that resource for granted. We should do whatever we can to ensure a support network is in place for the personnel who are providing such an outstanding service and to provide them with retraining, reskilling and upskilling. Some networks are already enshrined, for example, primary and secondary school networks. There have been negative stories about preschool care recently, but it is also important to focus on the positive.

I will mention an issue with Ballaghderg. Deputy Creed referred to special needs in general, but there has been a great deal of conversation about mainstreaming children with severe disabilities at preschool level. We must consider whether pushing that agenda is reasonable and consult widely with the parents of children with severe disabilities in facilities such as the one at Ballaghderg.

I acknowledge the role played by the Minister and the outstanding intervention in the form of infrastructural investment. The challenges are obvious and we have a long way to go, but it is a different world than the one when I started school in the early 1970s. Preschool was my first day in national school and mainstream education. I do not remember it. Maybe it had an impact, and maybe going into mainstream education as a four year old did a lot of damage.

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