John Minihan (Progressive Democrats)

I welcome the Minister of State, Deputy Tim O'Malley, to the House and welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. No politician can be blind to the ever-growing demand for quality child care. If proof of the demand was needed, one need only have spent time on the doorsteps of Kildare North or Meath where this issue was raised many times in recent weeks.

The cost and availability of quality child care has become a major issue for many families. Often couples in search of affordable housing are forced to live many miles from their kith and kin and far from the traditional support structures that existed in the past. Those with large mortgages frequently delay starting a family because of the extra financial strain child care would put on them. The question for other couples is often whether one or both should change their work pattern to provide child care for the family.

By raising this issue, the Labour Party has, like any Opposition, rushed to oppose Government regardless of its achievements. The Labour Party has turned a blind eye to the achievements of the Government in the area of pre-school child care. The Government and its predecessor have made a greater commitment to the child care sector through the equal opportunities child care programme than any of their predecessors. The Government is committed to spending at least €499 million on this programme by 2007. Even then, investment in our children will not stop. The most recent budget brought a commitment from Government to a further increase in capital funding under the next phase of the equal opportunities child care programme which will start officially in 2007. The funding allocated to date has resulted in the creation of some 36,500 new child care places.

The Government's commitment does not stop there. The equal opportunities child care programme aims to create quality child care places. The issue of quality is linked to training, education and professional development. In 2002 the national coordinating child care committee, established under the auspices of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, published the document A Model Framework for Education, Training and Professional Development in the Early Childhood Care and Education Sector. That document sets out clear guidelines for professional development through child care education and training. This document now forms a keystone in the thought process of the Department as it works to ensure the well being of all children in early childhood care and education.

The Government has done, and will continue to do, more than any of its predecessors. To argue otherwise is disingenuous. However, there is one area in which it must do better, namely, the provision of child care for school-age children. While the equal opportunities child care programme has been a boon for parents seeking facilities for pre-school children, those same parents are faced with a dilemma when their children start school. Unless they already have an established child minder, the prospects of finding child care for five years or more are slim. Faced with this problem, many parents, in particular women, are forced to put their careers on hold, perhaps for a period of ten or more years.

There are approximately 800,000 women in the workforce. They should be given every opportunity to develop their careers safe in the knowledge that their children's care is provided for in an environment where stimulating leisure activities are the norm. The provision of these activities, whether before or after school or during the holidays, is vital to the success of any child care scheme for school-age children.

The Minister of State is probably familiar with an example of such a scheme, the Milford After-School Facility, Castletroy, County Limerick. This was built with the aid of a capital grant of €250,000 in 2002. It caters for 40 school-age children providing them with a range of classes and activities, including speech and drama, supervised homework, arts and crafts and French language lessons. While the facility is primarily used by the students and staff of the University of Limerick, with children attending the Milford national school, surplus places are available to parents of other children living in the area.

With over 3,000 primary and 750 secondary schools in the State, all of which are largely under utilised outside of normal school hours, we have the means to provide facilities for school-age children. All that is required is the will, which, unfortunately, is lacking in some quarters. In 2003, the national child care coordinating committee made a number of recommendations covering all aspects of school-age child care. A number of those recommendations directly addressed the issue of the use of school property. Unfortunately, the use of school premises is a matter for the patrons and the managing authorities of the schools. I understand that despite its best efforts, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has failed to engage the interests of the school management authorities. This is unfortunate as there are many benefits to be derived for local communities through the use of school premises as school-age child care facilities.

The future of child care here lies in the provision of high quality facilities that offer a development programme of activities. In addition, such facilities could help foster, for example, healthy eating habits through the provision of nutritious meals to the children in their care.

I commend the Minister and his staff on the work they have undertaken through the equal opportunities child care programme and urge them to redouble their efforts to persuade school management authorities of the benefits of participating in out of school hours child care. I support the Government amendment to this motion because it is a fairer representation of the situation and of how we should proceed.