Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister and I may often have grave disagreements on issues of political expediency and policy but I do not underestimate his ability as a legislator. What has been said is logical and makes a great deal of sense. We almost need to step back from this. Similar to Senator Mooney, I was chairman of the Galway city and county childcare committee for a number of years and one of the biggest issues we had was ensuring formal recognition of people working as child minders, which is difficult. The more burdens placed on them, the more difficult it was to get them on board as registered child minders. However, the issues raised by Senators Power, van Turnhout and Power are valid. The intention of the legislation is to make society safer for children, no matter which adults come into contact with them. In vetting people who deal with children, it is important to make sure we can take everyone possible into the net in order that it is ensured that anybody who might be a potential danger to children can be identified. The Minister would be well able to do that if the will was there.

The second line of amendment No. 1 states, "in their individual capacity, engages in the provision of child-minding...". If that was changed to "in their professional capacity", would that delineate between somebody who is child minding as part of a casual arrangement in a family scenario and professional child minders? That would indicate that this is what the person does for a living. Would tweaking the wording of the amendment allow the Minister to encompass the safety element suggested by the other Senators while not making it cumbersome and awkward to police? I take that point on board because, as somebody who dealt with the child minding sector in Galway, the issue was always whether vetting could be policed and resourced, given there are many child minders. The amendments have been tabled in good faith and they make sense. I urge the Minister, given his eminent legal ability, to find a wording that takes on board the suggestions being made.