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

The new school age childcare regulations were developed following comprehensive advice received from experts in the sector. They have been received positively overall, with providers and parents recognising my duty to protect children and assist in ensuring quality of service. Concerns raised in the media focused on the minimum ratio of one adult to 12 children that will come into force in August. However, data available to my Department indicate that the large majority of school age childcare providers will have no difficulty complying with the new ratio. A sample of 400 school age services surveyed in 2018 found an average ratio of one adult to nine children, well within the new ratio requirement, and 85% of sessions of school age childcare provided were within a 1:12 ratio. A separate survey was carried out in May and June of this year by the county childcare committees. In the ten rural and urban counties for which data are available so far, 79% of services were already operating within the 1:12 ratio.

Concerns have also been raised about the impact on the number of places. However, the available data offer assurances. In the ten counties for which data are available, there will be an overall increase in the number of places this September. Additionally, my Department recently announced the results of a capital scheme, which will create 2,308 new school age places nationally.

The 2019 regulations are relatively limited in scope and were introduced to support the inclusion of school age childcare in the new national childcare scheme, which will open later this year. We need some regulations if providers are to receive subsidies. It will be necessary to replace the regulations in due course with comprehensive ones to ensure children's health, safety and well-being.

I recently carried out a full public consultation to inform the future regulations and quality standards. The consultation period closed on 5 July and I am looking forward to hearing the outcome.

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