Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

My heart is with the Deputy in what he said. It is correct to say that we are going in a different direction. On the Deputy's comments on places, in answering a number of earlier questions, I have stated that we have a systematic approach, especially in our work with Pobal, to try to identify where we need to increase capacity so that the supply meets the demand. That does not sometimes always work. I am happy to listen to what the Deputy is saying about his particular area and we need to be refocused on that. I accept that it does not always work but it is an exaggeration to say that it does not work across the board. That is not the case.

With this model and a higher percentage of private providers than community not-for-profit providers, I have looked at many different ways to see how we can maintain in a better way the level of affordability for parents. What we have arrived at as part of our First 5 approach is to develop a way of using public funds to ensure that fees increase more reasonably for parents but in a way that can assure that the providers, namely, the professionals, are paid what they are worth. That will take a longer time to develop. That is part of the vision of the First 5 and ultimately that will happen.

See this speech in context