Dáil debates

Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Ceisteanna - Questions - Priority Questions

Preschool Services

2:55 pm

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on concerns that the inspection system for preschools is not robust enough to identify centres that pose risks to the health and welfare of children in their care. [14716/15]

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for his question. A key priority for the Government is to ensure that quality early years services are available to preschool children. My Department is progressing the early years quality agenda, which represents a programme of measures to support, monitor and regulate the improvement of quality standards in preschool services. A key element of the agenda is strengthening the national early years regulatory regime. This will result in a change in practice in a number of areas relating to early years inspections.

Responsibility for the inspection of early years services transferred from the HSE to the Child and Family Agency in January 2014. Legislative amendments under the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 strengthened the inspection regime and provided a statutory basis for the registration of early years services. The new registration system, which will be introduced by the Child and Family Agency, requires that anyone seeking to open an early years service must register with the agency prior to the facility being opened.

The proposed service will then be inspected to ensure it meets all the necessary criteria before registration is granted. A similar inspection will be carried out at three yearly intervals. Ongoing inspections will be carried out after the service has become operational and children are attending. The legislation also provides for increased sanctions for service providers that do not comply with the regulations. The agency will also be in a position to refuse to register a service provider, remove a provider from the register, or attach conditions to the registration of a provider.

The Child and Family Agency is working to make the inspection system more consistent and robust. Reports on all inspections conducted since the middle of 2013 are published online and the agency is in the process of publishing retrospective inspection reports. The early years inspectorate is now managed by the agency on a national basis and working to common standards. The inspection tools and report format have been reviewed and new inspection arrangements will accompany the new regulations later this year. The regulations will incorporate new national quality standards which will provide the basis against which services will be inspected and reported on. Services will be supported to work towards higher standards of quality based on clearer criteria for measuring levels of compliance.

3:00 pm

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I am pleased the Minister has acknowledged that he did announce a programme of measures. He said a key element under the new system would be the registration process. That process was announced following the "Prime Time" exposé and placed on a statutory basis in January 2014. Fifteen months later, however, it is not yet in operation. No new service has been registered and no existing service has been re-registered, even though the legislation requires that this be done within three years. What is the reason for this delay in registrations? When will we see the registration process that the Minister is heralding as a key element of reforms in this area actually in operation? There is no point in having it on a statutory basis if it is not being operated by Tusla.

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Under the legislation we introduced, this is an operational matter for Tusla as it sets about putting these inspections in place. One of the issues revealed in the report was the need for information technology and communications, ICT, infrastructure to support Tusla's national preschool inspectorate. I was pleased to provide €350,000 to fund development of ICT infrastructure for that purpose. The work will be undertaken by Pobal and the new system is expected to be fully operational from January next year.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister did not answer my question. All he will say is that this is an operational matter for Tusla. Why is it that having brought forward legislation to put the process on a statutory basis, it is yet to kick into action 15 months later? The Minister should know the answer to that question. He referred to the new standards to guide the inspection process. The process to reform these standards started in 2010. After the "Prime Time " exposé, the Minister's predecessor committed to prioritising the publication of new standards. Almost two years later, the new standards have yet to be published. What is the reason for the delay?

We have a situation where Tusla is charged with responsibility for inspecting the preschool regulations and Pobal is responsible for inspection from a compliance and funding perspective. Meanwhile, the most recent announcement refers to inspections by the Department of Education and Skills. Again, this latest measure was introduced without any consultation with Tusla. The chief executive officer of the agency recently said he was embarrassed to learn that it was, in fact, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs which had requested the Department of Education and Skills to carry out the new inspections.

Why is the new registration process not in operation 15 months after it was put on a statutory basis? Why have the standards promised more than two years ago not been published? Why has a situation developed where the chief executive officer of Tusla is embarrassed that the Department of Children and Youth Affairs requested the Department of Education and Skills to start a new inspections process?

3:05 pm

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Clearly, the Deputy is confusing two inspection regimes. Under the early years programme the Department of Education and Skills will inspect the educational aspect, inspection of the overall regime will be the responsibility of the Child and Family Agency. In fairness to it, while it is studying how to go about this, it is awaiting the revised regulations.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Why?

Photo of James ReillyJames Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Because the provisions are being developed in association with the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel. In the drafting of the new regulations a review of the draft national quality standards was required, as well as of the 2006 child care regulations and the associated guidance document, with an input from the Child and Family Agency which will have responsibility for implementing the new regulations. This work means that it has taken longer to finalise the regulations than originally anticipated. It is important to point out to the Deputy that the regulations will be a serious improvement on what was in place before.

Photo of Robert TroyRobert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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When will they be introduced? They have been promised for two years.