Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Very little has changed in the year since the "Prime Time" exposé. There has been very little follow-through on the raft of announcements we have heard. At the time of the exposé, the Minister's predecessor published an eight-point plan. In the limited time available to me, I would like to focus on three of the points in question. In his reply, the Minister cited an amendment that has been made to the Child Care Act 1991, a measure that received cross-party support at the end of last year. The lack of a requirement for pre-operational registration was one of the issues that received the most criticism. A full year later, the Minister is unable to say the process of providing for such a requirement has been fully completed. In light of the severity of the criticism that was levelled at this process over 12 months ago, it is not good enough to say we are still awaiting the publication of regulations.

My second point relates to the development of the early years strategy, which was announced over two and a half years ago. The strategy has yet to be completed even though the expert advisory group completed its work last year. I will make some other points in my follow-up. Not enough progress has been made in this regard in the 12 months since the "Prime Time" exposé.

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