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

As the Deputy will be aware from the initial answer and the passage of the Child Care Act through this House, every preschool service is required to register with the Child and Family Agency before being permitted to operate. That is a major change. Up to now, there was no way of insisting on getting into a preschool setting before opening. That is a major change and one with which we all agree.

To return to the issue of the inspectorate, in April this year because of ongoing difficulties with the regulations and their drafting, we appointed a full-time officer to finalise the text. Many of the agency's requirements had still to be interrogated and explained to the drafter at that point. Most of these matters have now been resolved satisfactorily, although not without some difficulty. The Department has submitted its latest response to the Parliamentary Counsel and hopes all queries raised by the drafter have been addressed satisfactorily.

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