Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her address earlier on. With the seating arrangements, we are continuously rotating to get space in here.

With the usual funding streams such as the early childhood care and education scheme, ECCE, suspended, the majority of crèches have signed up to the wage subsidy scheme, which has been welcomed by most staff, providers and parents. From speaking to several providers and representative groups yesterday, there are numerous issues with how the scheme operates, such as self-employed crèche owners being placed on the Covid-19 payment, the 15% overhead falling well below what many providers need to pay their bills, the returning from maternity leave - as my colleague has mentioned - and the lack of clarity around how many staff members and how much they will have to pay back to the Revenue when they reconcile their payments. This extended period of closure will have considerable impacts on the long-term viability of the sector, which was already struggling.

I want to highlight three areas of concern with the Minister and hopefully we can get some clarity on them. They are mainly questions. Will the Minister clearly outline the public health advice that the National Public Health Emergency Team, NPHET, has issued for the scheme? What is the definition of an essential worker? Nurses and doctors are clearly included but does it include the cleaners and porters in hospitals, for example? Can staff of section 38 companies avail of the scheme? What payment model is being used? Is it possible for the Crowe report to be published while the Minister is still in office? If a childcare worker gets sick while placed in someone's home, what are his or her entitlements and who will be paying them? What is the small flat rate that we can expect that parents will have to pay?

On capacity, there is considerable concern that many childcare providers will be forced to close their doors for good as a result of this period of closure, worsening already dire capacity constraints. The reopening of crèches to all workers is scheduled to take place during phase 4, which begins on 20 July. The Government's roadmap says that when it happens, it will be for one day per week to begin with. I need an explanation on how exactly the one day per week of childcare will be rolled out. The Department needs to be clear on how the reopening of crèches will work as we face the majority capacity crisis. Transparency and planning are key in this. For example, there could be a crèche that normally has space for 100 children that is now reduced to being able to cater only for 50 children due to social distancing. If the parents and providers have already entered into a contract to secure a space and they then want to see if they can get access to their service, how does the operator prioritise and decide who comes in and who does not come in after phase 4 has come into place? How do we decide, when all businesses and various sectors are opening up, which sector is more important than the next? This will all impact on females. Are we doing a little bit of outside-the-box thinking, therefore? Are we thinking about using some of our national schools for the month of August? Are we thinking about using our community centres and GAA pitches? I would like to know what engagement is taking place and what the NPHET is saying about the roadmap in conjunction with the Department.

I refer to future funding. We all know the access and inclusion model funding has been sent out to the providers but they have used that to pay some of their wages in recent weeks and now it is being recalled. That is under the control of Pobal. Is there any way Pobal can halt the recall of that funding? While there was a gap, some providers were using that funding to pay wages. I would love if the Minister could respond to those points in the time remaining.

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