Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct that many people - it is primarily women - who enter childminding do so on an ad hocbasis. What we are talking about here, however, is that when the ad hocbasis is supported by State money through the NCS and we are providing a subsidy towards that, we have to have guarantees in terms of the quality of provision. There has to be something of that kind when it come to any investment of State money. That is why we need this regulatory framework. It is designed around the reality of childminders. As I stated, we are not transporting what we use for centre-based regulation; it will be quite different and it will be simplified. It does need to be in place, however, if we are to offer support under the NCS. It is about designing that as quickly as possible and, as I stated, I have asked the officials to do so. There has to be consultation in that process, however. Childminders are a diverse group. We work closely with Childminding Ireland but the child-minding ecosphere is much broader than that and it is difficult to reach all elements of it. We are working to do so, however. We are working to get those regulations done as quickly as possible. Once that is done, we will work to sign up those who wish to sign up and make the NCS available to the parents who are using their childminding services.

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