James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As I said in my reply, it is accurate to say that childminders who are looking after three or fewer unrelated children do not have to register, but they are encouraged to do so voluntarily. We will need to take an incremental approach. Childminding is governed by the Child Care Act 1991 and the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No. 2) Regulations 2006. The national guidelines for childminders were published to assist childminders by providing guidance for good practice in the area. Considerable sums have been made available to support childminders. There is a also a grant for childminding development. This grant provided funding of €1,000 to childminders to assist them with the purchase of materials to help them improve the quality of services available to children in their care. The national childminder initiative provides support for childminders and people interested in becoming childminders and it is implemented locally by the city and county child care committees. A first step for any person who wishes to become a childminder is to contact the local child care committee, CCC, to avail of its quality awareness programme.

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