Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I want to acknowledge the Minister's own interests and the personal contribution that she has made in this sector in her lifetime. I think that now she can use her position to increase the contribution that she makes to the early years sector and I want to focus, in my two minutes, on the community settings where we as a previous Fianna Fáil Government have a proud track record, because we invested heavily in the physical infrastructure that is now in place right throughout the length and breadth of Ireland, mainly in disadvantaged areas, where the physical infrastructure is there. What we now want to see is that investment carried through to ensure the professional people who are working with children are adequately compensated. The community setting is facing a major challenge with the withdrawal of the community employment, CE, workers. We spoke about this six weeks ago during Parliamentary Questions here.

It has to be acknowledged that, for the most part, community settings are located in largely disadvantaged areas. They deal with complex issues and complex cases and they need that additional support. I think what should be looked at from the point of view of the early years setting is that, in our national schools, we have the delivering equality of opportunity, DEIS, band for schools that deal with particular disadvantaged children. We should look at introducing that immediately in the early years setting so that they get the additional supports because they intervene much more.

What the Minister should do and look at, which would make a difference to the sector, is that we pay for services for 38 weeks for the free pre-school year, but we require the service to pay 42-week staff. We should be paying for the full 42 weeks. That would be a major benefit. We were holding back the capitation rate if a child missed more than ten days in the service. That does not happen in national school and it should not happen in the early years setting and it would benefit the service if the Minister could look at that. There are many challenges in this area. I think and hope the Minister will take on board the many positive contributions coming from across the House this evening and look at resolving the complex issues that face this sector into the future.

See this speech in context