Joe O'Toole (Independent)

I, too, welcome the Minister of State to the House. I remind him that since the redrawing of the boundaries, I am now his constituent and expect to be listened to. I promise him that, as a graduate, I will look after his needs.

There is a considerable amount of material associated with this subject. I sense that the Minister of State has been sent in to bat with a fine speech that says everything but is going nowhere. It is full of possibilities but contains no certainties. He said the NESF report has three clear aims, one of which is to set out an implementation process with key targets and objectives to be achieved at policy level over the next five years. Towards the end of his speech he said the Government will set up a high-level group to work out the options and potential for the next couple of years. One would want to be devoid of a sense of irony not to realise this is just going around in a circle.

Let me draw the attention of the Minister of State to the fact that the NESF report points out very clearly that we have ample policy concerning early childhood care and education but now need structures to ensure its implementation. That is what I want to consider today. I have spoken to many different groups involved in this area and have had some involvement in it in one way or another for many years. To address the issue, we should, as a first step, have one Department, headed by one Minister, responsible for the whole area of child care and education. Which Department it should be represents another day's discussion. There is an absolute need to increase paid maternity leave to 26 weeks, and we should begin that process immediately. I have said that paid parental leave should be increased to 26 weeks so many times in the House that it does not need to be reiterated. This is absolutely necessary and is in line with what is happening throughout Europe. We also need funded or free universal access to child care for three year olds.

One of the first tasks I would like prioritised and achieved is the establishment of an accreditation system for all the providers in child care and early childhood education. The advantage of this is that it would allow for variety. As general secretary of the INTO, I argued very strongly that there should be a variety of possibilities for children in the formative years from birth to five years. These would include school, play, nursery care and child care, yet there would be an insistence on quality, which would be determined by accreditation. In this regard, an accreditation body is crucial.

There are many people working on this issue. There is no way the high-level working group the Minister of State is about to set up will second guess the levels of commitment and reporting that have been evident over the past ten years. It cannot and will not do so. It would be better for it to consider what every group is saying. I know I am summarising what the Minister of State said and am in a sense putting words in his mouth.