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

The extremely difficult financial position the Government has had to deal with and control has worked against increased investment. I hope that as public finances recover in the coming years it will be considered important to channel any funding which becomes available to schemes which fulfil the objectives I have outlined and support the parents the Deputy rightly says are concerned about costs.

The Deputy asked about supports for the child care sector. I take the Deputy's point about the need to continually review the current level of subvention and, where possible, to build in more support to providers, because it is clear that the staff providing those services do not earn large salaries and many are on very low wages. Sustainability is an issue. I believe that the sector needs to grow and be supported and that the people working in the sector need to have a career path. This is the reason we are introducing the mentoring schemes. As resources become available it is critical from the point of view of the individual child, but also from an economic and competitive point of view, that we have more affordable and accessible child care, as much for the sake of the country's economic development as for meeting the needs of individual children.

See this speech in context