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

I thank the Deputy for his questions and his opening comments regarding the importance of childcare and the reality of, although he did not use that phrase, the double jobbing and extra responsibility on mothers. I thank him for his honesty in that regard. As we move forward, we need to find a new way to fund some forms of increased provision. I already indicated that even in the reopening phase there will be a substantial requirement in order to begin offering childcare again because of the social distancing and staff-child ratio requirements, etc. I agree fully with Deputy Sherlock's points in this regard and with the point Deputy Funchion made that if we are now paying the full wages of people in the sector, it may be the right time to move towards a really substantial increase in provision that would make the sector more affordable and, therefore, less burdensome, particularly for women.

I understand the House recently established a cross-party committee to examine the issues related to Covid-19. This is an additional forum where these issues can be raised. On the €15 per hour, I want to be clear that this is just a recommendation and an average amount. As the Deputy knows, these are private providers and we cannot tell them what to pay. I think it is significant that we are indicating that amount and I would hope that they can reach it. On the Deputy's question regarding an audit, the HSE did carry out an audit to try to get a sense of the demand among the 8,000 families it was indicated anticipated supply. The Deputy is correct on the need for incentives.

We know that Early Childhood Ireland and others have engaged with the members of their organisation on whether they would be willing to participate and many responded that they wanted to but, obviously, it was dependent on what was being offered. I hope that when I am able to identify more of the detail tomorrow at the launch it will be attractive to some people in terms of the wage and proposed working hours. As I said earlier, this scheme will provide for up to 45 hours per week of childcare. There is a small co-payment that the parents will be asked for, which I indicated earlier will be €90 per family. On the protocols, we will provide guidance in regard to many of the questions the Deputy asked.

In regard to insurance, it will be extended with the worker going into the home. There was a great deal of discussion and debate around insurance cover where a worker contacted Covid-19 during that period. That is not possible. Those discussions did not result in that being a possibility. These are people who have been Garda vetted. We have recommendations, protocols and guidance from the HSE in regard to what they should wear, etc.

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