Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister's commitment and I agree that what is being done is a major step forward. That is very important. We need to look at the issue of childminders as we progress and develop. Childminding Ireland has approached me and said this is something it is seeking. As I said earlier, it has been done in Scotland which has different standards from the early child care settings so we are not comparing like with like. For example, parents have said that services the State provides, such as Garda vetting, cannot be accessed. If a parent wants to make a choice, perhaps the State could support the parent in making the choices as well as the reference checking. We need to look at how we move forward in this area, but that is not an issue for today's Bill.