Jillian van Turnhout (Independent) | Oireachtas source

There are three points in it. There is the first year, tax credits and the second year. You want it all. I urge the Minister to look at investment and encourage investment, whether in the first, second or additional years.

I am also concerned about the development of the sector. Who is working to identify the capital investment needs of the children and their families? The Department of Education and Skills has a very clear process, but I do not see the process in this sector. It is a role for the child care committees, which could feed up nationally. We are seeing unplanned expansion, oversupply in some areas and not enough supply in others. Pobal estimates there are 31,500 vacant spaces in the country. We need to ensure we link with local authorities on planning permission. Where does capital investment go? All of these areas need to be examined.

The Minister is very good to have met individuals at the Early Childhood Ireland conference and to have spoken about issues such as being laid off for 14 weeks in the year. In what other profession would we allow this to happen? It is a gender-specific issue. We hear someone earns more cleaning or working in a chipper than educating young children.

With regard to increased investment, the Minister spoke about workforce development. We need to reward, encourage and incentivise people to have qualifications. There are people with these qualifications and I know the Minister is convinced. We must do more. We need to ensure more access to the community schemes for struggling working parents. We need to ensure supports are available, as the Minister stated, in order that we meet the additional needs of children. All too often I hear an assessment will come for a child in the months leading up to starting primary school because it is seen as a need for primary school. We need to ensure children with needs are assessed earlier. Some of the outlier peripheral issues include childminders being very unregulated and after-school services, which we are beginning to see being developed. It needs regulation and guidance if we want to be consistent. There is also the issue of au pairs, as we are seeing increase and I am working on this issue to see what we can do in the area.

As the Minister can guess, I could say much more on this issue. I wish him every success and I encourage everyone to get involved in the work he is doing with the group. I look forward to seeing the plan. We will have difficult decisions, but I say a huge well done for doing this. It is real leadership and is exactly what has been needed for a long time in the sector. I look forward to seeing what comes out.