Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. I recognise that she has a long and well-known background in early years services dating back to An Cosán.

There are two major parts - the short and long terms - to this issue. In the short term, we were trying to address the urgent matter of access to funding. A commitment was made in that regard. I welcome that some of that funding will come on stream this week and I hope the remainder of the services, not only in Cork but nationally, will see it entering their accounts in the coming week. However, the longer term issue remains. I hope the Minister takes account of the research conducted in Cork by various organisations and ensures that this matter is resolved on an ongoing basis. Some services will not benefit from the funding, including one in Cork that deals primarily with Travellers and has no entitlement to sustainability funding because it was not reliant on community employment, CE, schemes to that extent. A number of such community services will need additional subventions on an ongoing basis. I hope the Minister will commit to keeping an eye on this matter.

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