Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for being here to take this Topical Issue matter. In February, Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire, Deputy Mick Barry, Deputy Micheál Martin, Deputy Billy Kelleher, I and others attended a presentation by the Cork Early Years Alliance. It was a very powerful presentation. On a visit to Cork, the Minister had an opportunity to meet with some members of the alliance. It was a stark and frightening presentation. The alliance informed us of the services being provided by 13 different member organisations in terms of early years care for children up to the age of three. There are 348 children in Cork receiving a service from 13 different organisations. These areas have significant disadvantage and in many cases the children involved have complex needs. We are told by the alliance that 233 of these children will lose a service by September. The critical immediate issue is the emergency funding promised by the Minister's Department in respect of the change in the regulations around the qualifications required by the child care workers who are in these services. That is the key immediate issue. I will come back on the long-term issues in a moment.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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It was a very stark presentation. I have raised this issue with the Minister previously. I thank her for her presence. There are 13 services looking at potentially closing in September 2018 and seven of those are concerned they will have to close this September. They offer a vitally important service to children aged from naught to three years. It is at that age that early intervention is most crucial and makes the most difference. I anticipate the Minister will say she announced €1 million in sustainability funding, which is welcome. There are longer term issues.

On the €1 million funding, the latest position is that services received contracts on 24 March and were asked to return them. They were asked the same thing and received the same forms well over a month ago. This funding was announced back in January and February at the latest. The services have not been in a position to draw down any of that funding. The services have had to borrow, use their own savings and come up with all sorts of arrangements just to keep the thing on the road. They need to be able to access, in the first instance, the funding that has been committed to but which they cannot get their hands on. That is the most crucial issue to ensure these are sustainable even into the summer.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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We are talking about 13 not-for-profit community crèches here. There are 87 jobs at stake and 349 children involved: 44% of those children come from one-parent families; 73% come from families that can only continue on the basis of State income support; and 33% have specific disadvantage. The demands of the campaigners are straightforward. Apart from the emergency funding already mentioned there are three demands. First, the universal payment per child per hour should increase from €4.60 to €9.20, that is, it should be doubled. Second, there should be additional staff grants. Third, their work should be recognised not just in terms of value for labour activation but in terms of what it is, that is crucial early years intervention. I would like the Minister to comment on those demands from these campaigners who provide such a vital service within these communities.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I thank the Corkmen. Child care in Ireland is changing, and changing forever. Sustainable community services have a place in our ambitious plans. There should be no doubt about that. Services in Cork city have been proactive in producing research that makes clear the unique benefits of high quality care and education for children living in areas of urban disadvantage and elsewhere. This research is an important part of the long overdue national debate on child care, which is now under way. When I visited Togher in Cork six weeks ago, I met representatives of the community sector. As someone who has campaigned and worked in this area for over three decades, I could immediately identify with the challenges they face. It was a productive discussion with a sharing of information and views. The providers are also in regular contact with my Department.

The challenges which have been identified are not unique. They are issues that were raised by community providers in my constituency in Dublin South-West and by community and other providers last weekend when I attended and addressed the Early Childhood Ireland conference. I assure Deputies we are aware of the concerns and are taking action. Commitment and passion for child care is admirable but it is not enough if we are serious about child safety, as I am. Training, education and qualifications are needed so parents can be confident their child is being looked after in safety. Some community services, including in Cork, were impacted by recent changes in regulations. The rules were changed to prevent an over-reliance on community employment scheme participants who did not hold qualifications in child care. I accept this has caused short-term difficulties and my Department has now concluded arrangements for up to €1 million of additional funding to be made to these services. The first payments under this programme will be received by services this week, including in five Cork services.

My Department is in the process of securing the assistance of expert financial analysts to undertake work with services to assist them with assessing their sustainability. This work will link with the programme for Government commitment to conduct and publish an independent review of the cost of providing quality child care in Ireland. This commitment aligns closely with the work on the development of the affordable childcare scheme, including options for further development of the scheme over time. Initial scoping work on the independent review is being progressed in that context.

The independent review is a priority action for my Department in 2017. The affordable childcare scheme will deliver significantly increased rates of subvention to the most disadvantaged families. This scheme will lift the barrier that prevents parents from taking up offers of work, training and education because they cannot afford child care. Deputies will be aware that this is an ambitious task. We also have to get the IT systems right which will require more work. My officials are examining how parents and community child care services will benefit from the additional investment I obtained in budget 2017 for September. I hope to update Deputies in that regard in the very near future.

In budget 2017, I was pleased to secure €14.5 million to help ease the burden of administration on child care providers by paying for non-contact time on top of existing payments. Providers will receive payments this summer. Community child care services that provide the various funding schemes operated by my Department will receive payments. The average ECCE service with 25 children will receive approximately an additional €2,200. My Department and its agents, Pobal and the 30 city and county childcare committees work closely with services that are experiencing financial difficulty offering a range of supports and expertise.

I will continue to keep in contact with community services regarding the challenges they face. My officials are also working with Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, and other support services, to ensure we have the proper funding and supports in place for children and families to ensure that community child care providers can provide their unique role in our communities.

Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her reply. I think the Minister appreciates how vital these services are. The reality is that without them many of those children will be completely left behind by our society. They are in areas of disadvantage and many of the children have complex needs, including special needs and issues in terms of the home environment and so on. That is the reality. I think the Minister appreciates that.

I welcome that the first payments are being issued this week. Can the Minister give a commitment that all relevant payments will be issued immediately on receipt of contracts? As Deputy Ó Laoghaire said, the contracts have been submitted by the Cork providers. More fundamentally, when will the overall independent review be completed by? The emergency funding is a stopgap. It will probably get them to September. We are being told by these providers that seven of them are in grave danger. They are at imminent risk of closure in the autumn. It is not a position we can stand over.

Please, work with the providers on these issues in a genuine spirit of co-operation and ensure that their funding is on a sustainable footing so that these crucial services are maintained into the future.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister. I recognise that she has a long and well-known background in early years services dating back to An Cosán.

There are two major parts - the short and long terms - to this issue. In the short term, we were trying to address the urgent matter of access to funding. A commitment was made in that regard. I welcome that some of that funding will come on stream this week and I hope the remainder of the services, not only in Cork but nationally, will see it entering their accounts in the coming week. However, the longer term issue remains. I hope the Minister takes account of the research conducted in Cork by various organisations and ensures that this matter is resolved on an ongoing basis. Some services will not benefit from the funding, including one in Cork that deals primarily with Travellers and has no entitlement to sustainability funding because it was not reliant on community employment, CE, schemes to that extent. A number of such community services will need additional subventions on an ongoing basis. I hope the Minister will commit to keeping an eye on this matter.

Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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I have three points. The first payments under this programme will be received by services this week, including five in Cork. Better late than never, I suppose, and it is welcome news, but what of the others? Will they receive their money by Easter or by the end of April? I am referring to centres that have submitted all of the paperwork and are just waiting for what they were promised and what has been announced in no fewer than three separate press statements to the Evening Echo.

I asked the Minister three questions about the demands of the campaigners, but she did not reply. Could she reply to this supplementary question?

The Minister referred to qualifications, which are important. Qualified staff should be well paid, but the average pay for child care professionals is €10.26 per hour. I support the Big Start campaign's call for €15 per hour. Will the Minister comment on the issues of low pay among these professionals and increase the rate to €15?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I might begin with Deputy Barry's questions on the campaigners' call for the universal payment to be doubled. I would love to see that, but it will require significant additional investment. I have indicated that I am committed to doing that in the next budget. I achieved a significant increase in investment for this year and am looking for something similar in 2018. We are far behind where we want to be in terms of Government investment in child care. That happened as a result of how recent Governments responded to this issue. I anticipate that Deputies will support the request for additional investment in September as I work on budget 2018. That is how we will increase the universal payment.

As to an additional staff grant, we are examining that issue in the context of assigning financial analysts to work one-on-one with services with a view to assessing their business models and their requests for money or more staff supports to provide child care in light of levels of need in their respective areas.

I acknowledge the commitment to the early years sector to which Deputy Ó Laoghaire referred. I understand that the grants are taking a while. That is disappointing, but they are coming. As I indicated, money is being made available and financial analysts to work directly with those services that need them will be appointed. We will provide non-contact time grants again, probably this June. Those are additional moneys. We hope to progress our independent review in 2017.