David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for being here. I appreciate it. We all recall the terrible events of Storm Babet in Midleton on 18 October. Businesses, houses and roads were destroyed and millions of euro worth of damage was done.

An issue that has come up is the damage to crèches. At least two I know of have closed. One may not open at all; the other will not open until April or May. Well over 100 children are involved and now have no place to go. Parents have been on to me and my colleague, Deputy O’Connor, really distraught. They have taken what time off they can but there is no place available. There are solutions. I have contacted the childcare committee in County Cork. It is very good and proactive. I have contacted Tusla, which has not come back to me. There are a number of premises available but they need to be registered. This is an emergency. Some parents have told me they may have to give up work because they cannot continue. Others have taken unpaid leave. Many are young parents with mortgages and other expenses. Some parents have told me they have been quoted from €480 to €600 per week for childcare in the private sector. As staff in the crèche are getting other jobs, the whole thing is beginning to fall apart.

I ask the Minister to intervene directly in this regard and to talk to Tusla and the childcare committee. A number of premises have been identified in the area that could be used on a temporary basis. One is attached to a large childcare facility already. They have a room they can use but it needs to be registered. That takes time and time is what the parents do not have. This is extraordinarily urgent for them. The Minister can imagine trying to find a place for a two-year-old or a baby or after-school. No place is available. As people have to go to work, what do they do? It is very serious.

Many of these families also had their houses destroyed. They are not only dealing with getting their houses back in order. Some of the houses cannot be lived in. They are also trying to go to work and find a place for their child. Some have to travel long distances for childcare. The Minister and Department are the only ones that can intervene, bring everyone together and identify as a matter of urgency premises that could be used, even on a temporary basis. I know the standards and completely agree we should have high standards but this is an emergency. What are these parents and children to do if they cannot get childcare places?

This is linked to another issue, which is that many developers are building large schemes and are supposed to put in crèches. The crèche is the last thing they put in and then they walk away and forget about the crèche. I have been telling the local authorities to get them to build the crèches first and then build houses. At least there will be a crèche or childcare facility. This is critical across the country but where there is a difficulty in finding childcare places, especially in east Cork, and with Storm Babet on top of that closing down crèches for a long period, the Minister can understand the pressure and stress parents are under.

I am delighted the Minister is here. I ask him to intervene, along with the Department, to talk to Tusla and the childcare committee to identify the places that are there and see if we can put them to use to help these parents.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I recognise the Deputy’s engagement with me in recent weeks on this issue. I appreciate it and know he and other Cork East Deputies are committed to finding a solution. He has described clearly the dual catastrophe so many families are facing in terms of the loss of the home and now the loss of childcare facilities.

I am aware the Cork childcare committee has been engaging with the impacted services to ensure all assistance is in place to support the families and the services affected by the flooding. The childcare committee is proactively engaging with early learning childcare services to identify unused capacity and explore the potential for services to increase capacity to meet the early learning and childcare needs of families in the immediate and wider surrounding areas. This engagement will support referral of affected families where capacity is identified.

Families are being encouraged to contact the Cork county childcare committee directly to gain support in meeting their particular childcare needs. All families impacted by the floods can have their child's registration for ECCE transferred to a new provider. Funding will not be affected. Similarly, any families currently registered with the NCS will be able to transfer their childcare identifier code key, CHICK, to a new provider. In normal circumstances, people need to give four weeks' notice for this, but that requirement will not be applied in these circumstances. This means parents will be able to start claiming under the NCS as soon as a new provider registers their CHICK.

The safety and protection of children remains the first priority in the early learning and childcare sector. This is achieved through the registration and inspection of early years services by Tusla, which is the independent statutory regulator for the sector. Registration of early years services can be granted only where Tusla is satisfied that the premises, and their operation and location, pose no unmanaged risk to children. Tusla has been working closely with the local childcare committee in the areas impacted by the recent flooding. It will engage with impacted services in those areas to help them to reopen their service in a safe and suitable premises and location.

I acknowledge the Deputy's statement that he has not received a response from Tusla to his query. I will follow up on that and make sure the agency gets back to him. I will also look for clarity from the childcare committee and from Tusla's early years inspectorate that all due haste is being given to ensuring potential new venues are inspected. Those inspections must be done. We cannot put children into an unsafe place, even in desperate circumstances. My Department cannot stand over that. Where there is an emergency situation, however, I am sure we can move things rapidly. I will work with the Deputy to achieve that.

The Deputy made some wider points about capacity. I brought a memorandum to the Cabinet yesterday on the measures we are taking to improve capacity nationally, which we will launch later in the week. A key element will be the capital programme, which provides €15 million for investment in new childcare services across the country next year. The memorandum also covers the planning issue whereby developers are either not building a childcare facility along with the houses, or they are building it and, lo and behold, it looks exactly like a house and, three months later, they come back with a planning application to change its use to housing, or they say there is no demand because they will not let any childcare service make a bid to open a facility. A whole load of games are being played. Last year, I had a good meeting with county planners in different locations all over the country at which I asked them for their experience of this. We are working with the Department of housing to revise the 2001 regulations on the delivery of childcare facilities alongside new housing developments. Thousands of housing units will be built under Housing for All. We need appropriate childcare facilities to be delivered as well.

David Stanton (Cork East, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive and very positive response. It would be a great Christmas present for these parents if they were to have a childcare or after-school place for their baby or child before Christmas. That would be great. As the Minister has acknowledged, this situation is urgent. It is a number of weeks since the flooding happened and the childcare facilities were destroyed.

I acknowledge the endeavours being made by other childcare providers in the area to identify premises and expand their services to look after the parents and children impacted by the floods. I know of at least two large providers that are working hard to achieve this. They need the co-operation of Tusla and the childcare committee and they need the support of the Minister. I am delighted he has acknowledged that this morning and committed to doing what he can to make it happen.

I am really impressed that the Minister has put his finger on the bigger point, which is the need for more childcare premises to be built, and built to plan rather than being built as a house and then flipped. That is hugely important. I am a bit more hopeful now that things will happen. We will, of course, be monitoring the situation closely.

As I said, I contacted Tusla and it did not get back to me. That is not important. The important thing is that the agency is working with the childcare committee and the other providers that have premises available. I acknowledge the Minister's point that premises must be safe. The childcare providers I am aware of that are trying to expand into these other areas would not operate in dangerous premises. They are working hard to make the premises safe and available for the parents who are in dire need. Some of those parents may have to give up their work if they do not find a place to mind their children, with all the consequential financial impact that will have. They are really caught and they really need the support of the Minister. I thank him and his Department for the response this morning.

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We should be able to find a way to address this issue and bring in some more capacity, recognising that any premises put forward must meet the requirements of Tusla. The latter has a process and I will ask it to expedite that process in terms of the early years inspectorate. I am willing to help as much as I can but we cannot break the relevant criteria in respect of child safety. I acknowledge that neither the Deputy nor any of the childcare providers that are stepping up are suggesting we do so. We will continue working to see whether we can bring forward solutions.