Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Her presence enhances the role of the House and she has given a comprehensive statement in response to the shocking scenes we witnessed on Tuesday night. It is sad that it has taken such a programme to activate all the responses we have heard over the past 48 hours. I agree with the sentiments expressed about Deputy Fitzgerald as a person but we are debating her role as a Minister and my comments are not personal.

Will she liaise with the relevant agencies, including the Garda and the HSE, to ensure those who appeared to be culpable and responsible for child abuse in the television programme are brought to justice? One of the perpetrators has been dismissed but that is not enough. I do not go round seeking people's heads but this is such a serious issue that those who have been found to have engaged in child abuse as a result of the programme should be brought to justice and charged before the courts. Has the Minister liaised with the agencies in this regard? According to today's newspapers, the Garda is investigating parental complaints. I appreciate this is outside the Minister's remit but she may have a comment on that. These people should be brought to justice. The fact that this has happened in Dublin should not lead people to think they are in a comfort zone in which they believe these practices are only going on in Dublin. If cameras were taken undercover into other crèches throughout the country, I wonder what the outcome would be. The scenario outlined was horrific.

Leitrim is mentioned as one of the counties that has not been subjected to an inspection. The media coverage of child care facilities nationally focused on 15 child care services, which is less than 0.5% of the total nationally and did not reflect the position in all child care services. In County Leitrim, 206 staff work directly with children in child care facilities, 92% of whom are trained to FETAC level 5 standard, caring for children, or level 6, supervision in child care, while 89% have completed an occupational first aid course and 81% have completed the recommended HSE Children First child protection training. In addition, 59% of services are currently doing curriculum training with further courses for both preschool and after school, 75% of services are engaged in Síolta, the national quality framework for early childhood education, while 48% of services have completed an early years health promotion programme.

The standard of care and education in the county has always been reported as high and both child care services and the county child care committee have a good working relationship with the HSE inspection team. Leitrim county child care committee liaises regularly with parents and child care services on queries, information, policy development and recruitment processes. All parents are regularly encouraged to talk to the person looking after their child, as outlined by Senator Henry and others, and to request from the manager the most recent inspection reports, which are publicly available, to reassure themselves about the quality provided.

I acknowledge there has been significant investment by the Department in child care nationwide, including direct investment in child care places, capital support and local county-based programmes such as county child care committees and the national voluntary child care committee. Continued and increased investment is vital for the enhancement of quality and the sustainability of services in the child care sector. In rural areas, the local child care facility is of the utmost importance as children in these areas often have no other option available to them. However, as quality improvement in child care is a continuous process, I would like to highlight that the lack of a public health nurse on the inspection team in County Leitrim since February 2012 has meant that only half of the inspection process has been carried out since then. There is an urgent requirement for the full inspection team to be put in place. In addition, the current EHO is covering County Sligo as well as Country Leitrim, thus making inspections less frequent. Will the Minister examine this in the context of resources?

I raised the issue of financial assistance towards the cost of fees for access to part-time degree courses in early years child care and education on the Adjournment earlier this week. A total of 204 people in County Leitrim have taken FETAC level 6 and they want to go on to do a bachelor of arts degree in child care, which would cost them €12,000 for a four year part-time course. Most of them work part time at home or in the workplace but all the Government's job creation initiatives and resources are geared towards those who are unemployed and who want to take up full-time education. Will the Minister use her good offices to seek a subsidy or support for these people if she is serous about enhancing the educational qualifications of those working in child care?

I refer to the roll-out of the early childhood curriculum framework and increased investment to complete the formal roll-out of Síolta, which as Senator van Turnhout said, has not been rolled out nationally because sufficient resources have not been put into it.