Kathleen O'Meara (Labour)

On the subject of child care, Senator Brian Hayes noted earlier the significant announcement made last week by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform with regard to school age child care. This needs to be debated. We seem to be gaining momentum on the issue of child care but it must be pointed out that no regulations exist in the area of school age child care. At present, anybody can establish an after-school child care service or a service for school age children. There are no inspections or regulation. A set of guidelines is only now emerging. It is clearly an important issue.