Katherine Zappone (Independent)

I welcome the Minister and I offer one compliment and two questions. Like everyone else, I compliment the Minister on the national early years strategy. It signals that she is championing a cultural shift from later to earlier intervention and many of us working in the sector have called for this for some time. The Minister is setting Irish public policy to view the zero to six years of age bracket as a single period of childhood and not simply a matter of child care between zero and three years and education between three and six years. This distinction is critical.

The Minister referred to prevention and early intervention programmes. I established the childhood development initiative in west Tallaght. Evaluations are now coming on stream from the three sites. The Doodle Den literacy programme is demonstrating positive impacts in terms of literacy outcomes, as is the early speech and language intervention programme. All of the sites have a good deal of learning in terms of inter-agency collaboration and I am pleased that the Minister intends to take these on board. Is the Department committed to providing ongoing support to what works in these programmes?

My second question has to do with quality. The Minister has indicated a commitment to quality services especially in the early years. I am concerned with the recent budget because there was a decrease of 3% in the subvention going into these services. Almost no time is being allocated for training and reflective practice. The Minister noted that Síolta and Aistear, our quality and curriculum frameworks, have been rolled out. Only pilot training has taken place in the case of Síolta and there has been little in-service training in the case of Aistear. As the Minister is aware, all of the research suggests that training is one of the primary requirements for improving quality. Will pre-service and in-service training form an integral aspect of the Minister's early years strategy?