Katherine Zappone:

I congratulate the Deputy on his election. I will start with the last question. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs is working with the Department of Education and Skills to develop transition supports for children with disabilities who will be moving from pre-school to school this September, so that is certainly one of the things we are doing.

The Deputy also asked what kinds of supports are in place for youth in these pandemic times. My Department is continuing to work closely with the different youth organisations and, in different instances, it has provided some additional financial support. In the youth sector, many organisations have stepped up to the plate and themselves identified the ways in which they can re-purpose their own resources in order to provide support to youths who are particularly in need, for whatever reason, and the Deputy mentioned mental health issues. Many organisations have taken their own initiatives in regard to the supports the Government continues to provide for them during this period.

I want to come back to the questions asked by Deputy Kathleen Funchion, who referred to the different schemes and the need for a realistic timeframe for the third scheme, which we have been asked to develop in a relatively short period of time. As the Deputy is aware, I consider the first scheme very successful and 84% of the providers have already signed up. It provides that sustainability and the financial and other resources which the Deputy, myself and others are so clearly concerned about in order to ensure that our childcare sector is there as we move forward.

The Deputy is correct that the timeframes are very tight. It is very ambitious. Everybody will be aware, as the Deputy is, that the Department and those involved in childcare and the early years sector are being asked to come back a couple of months before the schools and the schools are also planning for that. It is very ambitious and we know we need guidelines and training for the practitioners and professionals before they re-open. These are things we are discussing and trying to come to agreement on with the group I have established, in particular the timing as well as the content of these issues.

I will be delivering a report to Cabinet at the end of this month which will, hopefully, outline all of the ways in which we have consolidated critical aspects of the planning for this scheme. My hope is that we will be ready to open when there is NPHET guidance to the Department to prepare for that.

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