Damien English (Meath West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

That is why people have high mortgages hanging around them.

To assist parents with the cost of child care, more than €250 million is provided each year by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Every Deputy agrees that this is not nearly enough and everyone would like to see more, but the money is just not there. Maintaining the current level has been difficult in light of the budgetary pressures that have prevailed in each of the past four years, but it has been. We know why the budgets are under pressure - other Governments did not do their jobs properly.

To address the needs of parents returning to the workforce, a number of labour activation measures have been introduced by the Minister, Deputy Reilly's Department in collaboration with the Minister for Social Protection. These are key measures at this time, given the substantial rebound in the economy and improved employment opportunities. The afterschool programme, for example, means that parents of school-going children taking up employment are able to avail of affordable care for that crucial period after school ends and before the working day concludes. It is also fair to say that, without the Government's firm commitment in supporting the child care sector, many child care services would not have been sustainable and many jobs would have been lost across the sector in recent years.

The issue of affordability is a still a major worry for many parents. There are calls, including from the Association of Childhood Professionals, for an increase in State investment. The Minister, Deputy Reilly, favours further investment when resources become available. It is not a case of letting the issue slide. In fact, the Minister has emphasised that future investment in child care must be evidence-based and strategically co-ordinated. It is for this reason that he has established an interdepartmental group to develop a whole-of-Government approach to future child care investment. It is to report in a number of months and will include representation from my Department, which works closely with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on issues relating to early years.

The commitment to improving the quality of ECCE for all children has been a key focus of the Departments of Education and Skills and Children and Youth Affairs for a number of years through successive Governments. We will continue that commitment. The quality and curriculum frameworks for children aged nought to six years of age, Síolta agus Aistear, were developed under the remit of my Department and are regarded internationally as high-quality frameworks to underpin working with children. A comprehensive preschool quality agenda that aims to improve quality standards in preschool services is being progressed and number of key areas have been identified as requiring urgent reform.

The recent decision to introduce education-focused inspections to examine the quality of educational provision in early childhood settings that provide the free preschool year is a positive development. The opportunity for child care to engage with inspectors who have expertise in the area of early childhood education will contribute significantly to improving the quality of the learning experience for young children. Everyone has referred to the quality. It is essential. This development will complement the decision to appoint 30 graduates in ECCE, who will work directly with services to improve quality in the provision of quality child care services. Every Deputy agrees that it is a question of how best to improve quality.

Deputy Troy has received many compliments on the solutions the motion has suggested. They are worthy and many of us like them, but Fianna Fáil is proposing significant increases in spending because the proposals require money. Indeed, Fianna Fáil's proposals go far beyond what it was prepared to spend while in government. As is always the case, it does not mention from where the money will come. I examined Fianna Fáil's pre-budget submission. The party's call to increase investment to the OECD average would cost approximately €450 million extra each year. A second free preschool year would cost approximately €175 million. The proposals on the community child care subvention scheme would cost a further €150 million. If we include the tax relief for which Fianna Fáil is also calling and which evidence shows does not reduce costs to parents or increase pay to staff, we will not be far short of €1 billion in extra spending. This would have been difficult in the midst of the Celtic tiger and Fianna Fáil convinced us that there was an endless pot of cash to spend. Of course, that was just an illusion.

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