Brian Hayes (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I apologise on behalf of the Minister, who is unable to respond to this matter today. She has asked me to thank Deputy Fleming for raising it. She will examine it closely again on foot of the Deputy's remarks.

In response to the Deputy's question, the Department of Social Protection is consolidating and improving the provision of training and work experience for community employment, CE, participants, particularly those who wish to pursue a career in child care. For CE participants who work directly with children, a dedicated programme comprising formal learning and supervised work experience is now a mandatory part of participation, as the Deputy stated. This formal learning programme will lead to a FETAC level 5 major award in early childhood care and education. This is the minimum entry requirement for a child care practitioner. The programme will last two years, during which a major award will be earned. One year of work practice will lead to the programme lasting for a maximum of three years overall. This programme involves defined standards of achievement, a career progression path and a structure for CE participants in early years services. These changes are designed to provide a more tailored and valuable support to the provision of community child care and to achieve greater coherence between participation on CE schemes and the jobs market.

The new CE child care scheme started in Laois on 3 March 2014 under the CE sponsorship of Laois Community and Enterprise Development Company Limited. The child care CE scheme has been allocated 50 CE places. Thirty-three CE places are allocated for the direct provision of child care and 17 places are allocated for child care support.

An additional training budget to facilitate the completion of the full major award at level 5 in child care will be made available. The child care CE scheme has also been allocated an additional CE supervisor to mentor and support the child care workers through the major award. The interviews for the new child care supervisor will take place before the end of April.

It seems, from the information I have, that an additional training budget to facilitate the completion of the full major award at level 5 will be made available. I hope that resolves the issue.

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