Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will start by acknowledging the work the Deputy did when he was the Minister responsible for this area in the last Government for close to five years. I hope he acknowledges the commitment of the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael parties, with the Green Party, to the issue of childcare during the last Government when it dealt substantially with pay and conditions and money was allocated to successive Ministers for public expenditure in respect of the agreement with the trade unions on pay and conditions. The unions acknowledged that at the time. There was the freeze on increases in the cost of childcare and there was very significant investment in childcare itself.

It struck me that when Members are in opposition they talk very nobly and are principled about the public childcare system, but I do not see great models. I remember talking to the Social Democrats about this in our preliminary meeting. There was no detail. I remember people saying to me that it would be done gradually, on a phased basis, and that an inventory or audit must be done first. The problem is that it is a bit more complex than that. We can all commit to a public model but if one is committing to that, there is an obligation to outline it. What would we do with community play groups? Would the State take them over? Would the State take over the private sector provision? It could be done in a different way. It could be done with special needs first and children with additional needs. There have been Green Papers as far back as the late 1990s suggesting that the State and the Department of Education should be more involved in the provision of early-based education for children with special needs. The Department did get involved in the syllabus, the curriculum, Síolta and all of that, as well as other aspects.

There is an onus. It is great to make the great announcement but, with respect, the Deputy was in government for the last four and a half years. No model came forward to me about a public model for childcare because the Deputy had to deal with the realities - the fiscal reality and budget realities. As Minister, he made a lot of progress in respect of childcare, as we all did collectively, but we need to do an awful lot more. A fundamental call needs to be made. How do we deal with the existing structures? Fianna Fáil created the ECCE scheme at the time and it has been expanded. The childcare model has evolved from when it was originally in the Department of Justice through the NOW programme. It has been expanded dramatically through childcare county committees and through different iterations. It is now in the Department of children. To be frank, the answer as regards increased resources, increased expansion of places and more resources to try to decrease the cost to parents is "Yes".

See this speech in context