Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Officials from my Department have met representatives of Childminding Ireland and will meet them again. There is time between now and September to legislate for the new programme and to put the necessary websites and administrative systems in place. It also gives us a window of opportunity to ensure more childminders can be registered with Tusla and that is certainly the objective of the Government. We need to ensure anyone who receives payment from the State through the new child care subsidy scheme is vetted and is registered with Tusla for the obvious reason that we cannot have the State paying child care supports to somebody who may not be safe to be with a child.

That is a principle we cannot depart from because it does not just relate to reducing the cost of child care and early education for parents, it is also about ensuring that we have quality child care and quality early education for children. I know the Deputy will share that objective.

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