Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I welcome the opportunity to raise this important matter. As we all know, early childhood services in the past were largely informal arrangements between neighbours, families and in some urban areas the option of sending the preschooler to private playschools.

In recent years Government has recognised the need for diverse child-minding arrangements for families, for example, preschool requirements, full-time day care or after-school care. The establishment of the county child care committees was a welcome step in attempting to support parents to obtain quality child care provision in their own area and I acknowledge the excellent work that Offaly County Childcare Committee does.

The early childhood and education care scheme, known as the free preschool year, was widely welcomed on its introduction in 2010. It ensured that all children would have an opportunity to attend preschool free for one year before attending primary school and obtain the recognised benefits of early learning, development and socialisation.

It has brought challenges though in terms of duplication and displacement with too many providers being allowed into the scheme in some areas. Sustainability seems not to have been a priority in the administration of the scheme. Proof of a need for the service should be a priority as some providers are now in the position that they do not have enough children to maintain the service and some are not even earning a wage for themselves as a result. I sincerely hope that the Child and Family Agency will address this issue as a matter of urgency as those already providing the service need to be supported before allowing new providers into the system.

Ensuring that staff are properly trained is essential and the providers, both private and community based, recognise this. Yet it is necessary for providers and staff who require up-to-date first aid or manual-handling training to bear the extra cost of travelling to Dublin to do so. This is the case for those in Offaly. Surely it must be possible to provide this type of training locally to prevent needless travel expenditure for the providers and staff.

Another difficulty being experienced by private providers with vast experience, many of whom have been in existence for 15 or 20 years, is how inspections are conducted. Anecdotally, it appears that there is no consistency. Well run service providers who take their role as child care providers seriously are only too happy to have inspections conducted but being deemed non-compliant because of a stray cobweb or a leaky tap seems to be over the top.

One could not argue against high standards and strict regulations for providers to ensure that our preschool children get the best possible start in life, but what value do we place on their work? Many of those women providing the services are well trained and educated but not paid enough to reflect their experience and responsibilities. I know of child care workers with a degree in early childhood development or child care management who are getting great job satisfaction but are badly paid, many on minimum wage. How long will they remain in such positions? How long before they start to look across the water to do conversion courses to become primary school teachers where they will get work placement and possibly permanent work and at least be properly paid for the work they do? We are investing in training and educating these women but other countries are benefiting. I say women because it is primarily women who are in these roles. We need to recognise that preschool teaching is as valuable as any other teaching position.

One of the biggest challenges for families is the need for after school services.

I was recently contacted by a distraught parent whose after-school provider closed with one day's notice to the parents. Finding a replacement provider is proving difficult and the prices being quoted will return her to the position I was in during the 1980s, that is, being obliged to give up work as child care costs were too high for the household budget to sustain.

A community child care facility in County Offaly also contacted me recently to advise how tight is its cash flow. While I will not mention its name, it has a motivated board that is compliant in every way, fund-raises regularly and is proactive about seeking funding from other sources. However, the board is faced with putting up charges, which it does not wish to do as it is aware the parents cannot afford it. Having obtained funding to improve the building from a particular source, the board now faces the difficulty of being obliged to come up with 25% of the funding for the project or to lose it all. It is a catch-22 for it. Will the Minister consider putting in place interest-free or low-interest loan facilities for such community child care boards to help them expand and improve the services they provide?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank my constituency colleague, Deputy Corcoran Kennedy, for raising this important matter. Members will be aware that my Department provides approximately €260 million annually to support the parents of preschool and after-school children with the cost of child care. This funding is provided through approximately 4,300 child care service providers, both community and commercial, throughout the country, enabling them to provide child care supports either free of charge or at reduced rates to qualifying parents. This funding is made available under a number of child care support programmes, all of which are implemented by my Department. These include the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme, the community childcare subvention programme, the childcare education and training support programme, and the new after-school childcare programme.

The early childhood care and education programme is a universal and free programme to which all children have access and which provides a free preschool year to eligible children in the year before they start primary school. The programme is provided by both community and commercial services and the funding allocated to each service is based on the number of qualifying children and the level of service provided. The standard annual capitation payment in respect of each qualifying child is almost €2,400, with a higher payment made to services where staff hold a higher level of qualification. The programme, which has been in place since 2010, represents an annual investment of €175 million in preschool services. This investment provides a guaranteed source of income to both private and commercial providers and is an important support for many child care services at this time. Approximately 68,000 children avail of the free preschool year annually.

The community childcare subvention programme is provided by community not-for-profit child care services. The programme provides targeted funding primarily to support lower income and disadvantaged families. There are more than 900 community not-for-profit child care services throughout the country involved in this programme. The funding provided is used by the participating services to reduce the weekly fees charged to qualifying families and this ensures that many parents, who otherwise would not be in a position to avail of child care services, have access to quality preschool and after-school supports.

Funding is also provided by my Department to support the childhood education and training support programme, which targets funding to support parents seeking to return to the workforce and who are participating in SOLAS or education and training boards education and training programmes. In view of the improving economic situation and the increased opportunities for employment, this is an important employment activation measure that will continue to be supported by this Government. To support further parents seeking employment opportunities, additional measures have been introduced to provide for parents on community employment schemes who need child care support. This programme was introduced earlier this year and there already are almost 400 parents availing of this support.

An important concern for parents who have returned to the workforce is the availability of suitable and affordable after-school care. Last year, my Department and the Department of Social Protection jointly introduced the after-school childcare scheme targeted at low-income parents returning to the workforce. The objective is to ensure that affordable and quality child care is available to disadvantaged families when work opportunities are offered. The community employment and after-school support programmes are provided by both community and commercial child care services and the funding provided is used by the services to reduce the weekly fees charged to qualifying parents. To ensure that child care services are fit for purpose and in a position to deliver quality services, a number of capital funding grant programmes have been introduced in recent years.

I am aware of the current difficulties facing the early years sector. I acknowledge what Deputy Corcoran Kennedy has said and am pleased to inform her that despite the adverse economic conditions that have prevailed in recent years, my Department has been able to maintain the level of funding available to the child care sector. This funding supports more than 100,000 children and their parents every year, together with ensuring that many child care services are in a position to continue operating, thereby providing work opportunities for more than 20,000 people throughout the country. I hope to be in a position to invest further in early years services as the financial and economic circumstances of the State permit.

Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Minister for his response. While I acknowledge he would wish to have his budget doubled in size, as would I, Members must recognise there is an emerging crisis in some aspects of child care across the many different services which parents and their children need and a review of the situation should be carried out as a matter of urgency. I also understand that a pilot after-school child care scheme similar to ECCE was established last year. Would it be possible to conduct an evaluation on it as soon as possible? Has a decision been made on whether to roll it out across the country at the earliest convenience?

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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I will communicate with the Deputy in so far as the review she mentioned is taking place. In 2012 and 2013, my predecessor secured capital funding totalling €9 million to support the ongoing improvement of established child care services participating in the child care support programmes as implemented by my Department. A further €2.5 million already has been secured in 2014 for maintenance and upgrade of community or not-for-profit child care services. I believe this is the issue to which the Deputy referred when she mentioned the crisis. I acknowledge there are difficulties, including in the constituency of the Acting Chairman, Deputy Seán Kenny, which he brings to my attention continuously. The aforementioned sum of €2.5 million for maintenance and upgrade of community or not-for-profit child care services will ensure that previously-funded community facilities remain fit for purpose and in a position to continue to deliver the type of quality services our children deserve. Additional capital funding of €5 million has been made available to my Department in the current year under the phase 4 infrastructure stimulus, which is being introduced by the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform. I currently am considering how this funding can be utilised in the best interests of the sector.

I thank the Deputy for bringing this important matter to my attention. I assure her that her submission and observations in the Chamber will be taken into account fully in the context of any review being undertaken by me or my Department.