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

Well-being has to be at the core of anything we do with the childcare model. We have the well-being of our children at the centre, along with the well-being of the staff, and the well-being of the families. It has to be embedded in the community. The Deputy mentioned disadvantaged areas. It is not embedded within our county development plan in rural Ireland. The city and county childcare committees researched whether they are too close to each other. We should have community childcare facilities in every parish and community right across the State. We should be sweating the assets off the State. The Deputy referred to the schools and community halls. I agree we should support whatever is needed within that community through the childcare model.

The innovative people of whom the Deputy spoke live in our communities. They have skill sets within those communities, whether they are accountants or solicitors. They can make up that task force to ensure that we develop and expand the range of services required within those communities. When that is put that at the centre, that will put life back into communities. In my area in rural Ireland and the Deputy's area in inner-city Dublin, communities will be kept alive and beating, with investment in their centres. When we do that, we will have development in schools, but also development in local clubs.

That is where the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Deputy Roderick O’Gorman, and his task force will go with the plan. It is not for me to say until it is completed. However, the vision is that we would involve all. The Deputy is correct about the role of the city and county childcare committees and I have made the same point for years. Currently they are in receipt of approximately €11 million a year. We should not overwhelm childcare providers with this enormous volume of paperwork. It should be the role of the city and county childcare committees to have the policies, procedures and paperwork to support our childcare providers, whether they are private or community. It should be streamlined, no different than when someone orders oil. It should ordered through a central point to get best value for money and to support everybody.

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