Fidelma Healy Eames (Fine Gael)

I compliment Senator Norris on raising the issue of domestic abuse and making a valid case for protecting women who are at risk of domestic violence. I am worried about how prevalent the circumstances he describes may be across all counties.

I welcome the Minister of State. It seems every issue I raise falls into his lap. When one considers that he is responsible for the issues of child protection, child abuse, adoption and the issue of pre-school education which I propose to discuss, he is clearly busy and has an explosive portfolio. I ask him to outline how he plans to address the current shortcomings in the pre-school education scheme planned to commence in January 2010. I refer specifically to the availability of places in the light of the funding cap; the availability of appropriate specialist teaching personnel, given that such personnel have not yet been trained in the curriculum; the proposed pupil-teacher ratio; and training in the pre-school curriculum which needs to be associated with the provision of quality pre-school education.

The proposed scheme has considerable merit. As Senator Keaveney will be aware from the deliberations of the Joint Committee on Education and Science, I am involved in a robust research project on early school leaving and drop-out rates. One of the best services we can provide is quality pre-school education. I refer, for instance, to one such scheme which has been in operation in the United States for many years. Empirical evidence shows that quality pre-school education with proper monitoring and qualified pre-school teachers give the best return on investment. One such scheme, the Perry programme in the United States, is associated with a low pupil-teacher ratio, group meetings with parents, specialised training for teachers and a specifically designed curriculum. According to conservative estimates, the scheme yields a return of $2.30 on every dollar invested by the time participants are aged 20 years. By the time they were aged 40 years, this return had increased to an estimated $12.90 for every dollar invested, giving a ratio of almost 13:1. Moreover, it resulted in sustained increases in achievement, higher graduation rates at upper secondary level, higher earnings and lower rates of arrest. The savings arise from increased tax revenue, health and welfare savings and reductions in costs associated with crime rates. This type of programme is of particular benefit to children from disadvantaged backgrounds.

We must aim to achieve these long-term outcomes. The Minister of State will be aware that one in six children in the State drops out of education before the leaving certificate. The pre-school scheme provides a wonderful opportunity to address this problem, but, based on the shortcomings of the proposals, I fear it is likely to fail. I respectfully propose to highlight these shortcomings as I know the Minister of State has an important meeting tomorrow with private pre-school providers who are also concerned about the scheme.

I understand that, on the basis of age, 81,000 children will qualify for the new pre-school scheme from next January. Based on a pupil-teacher ratio of 8:1, we will need 10,000 qualified teachers. I understand the Minister of State wishes pre-school teachers to attend training in Síolta and its associated curriculum, Aistear. However, I learned in the past 24 hours that this training is to be provided in 2010, whereas the scheme is due to commence in January. I ask the Minister of State to enlighten me as to how those who have FETAC level 6 qualifications and above will receive the appropriate training in the curriculum framework the Department wishes them to deliver if it does not provide this training in advance of the date of the start of the scheme.

Other concerns about the pre-school scheme include the cap of €64.50 the Department proposes to apply for five days pre-school education a week.

The first one is that due to the high cost base that these providers are already experiencing, they cannot afford to subsidise the scheme. They are operating within tight margins with, effectively, fixed labour and premises costs that they have little capacity to reduce. They are restricted by the size of the premises and the pupil-teacher ratio regulations. This scheme caps their fees at a level which does not cover their costs.

I am thinking of the children and the availability of places needed. I ask the Minister of State to allow these providers to top up their fees so that they can be financially viable for the sake of the provision of places.