Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

As section 58B of the Child Care Act 1991 will allow the Minister to make regulations to promote the development of children, it is not necessary to repeat this in section 58G. I therefore do not intend to accept the amendment. However, I will keep this under review in the context of amending the Child Care Act, which I intend to do. As the Síolta and Aistear programmes develop and when they are embedded across the sector, the question of how this can best be captured can be examined. I believe the review of the child care legislation, which will take place next year, is the appropriate place to so do.

I take on board the Senator's comments but I suggest that section 58B already deals with it and allows the Minister to make regulations to promote the development of children. If further legislation is needed to embed some of the best practice we are trying to drive in terms of the quality preschool agenda, we can examine how that might be done in terms of the changes to the Child Care Act.