Victor Boyhan (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House. Without a shadow of a doubt, those in the child care area are particularly enthused and excited by the Minister. I also wish to commend the clarity of the messages and press releases from her Department since she became Minister. They are excellent, clear, concise and deliverable messages that all can understand. I have spoken to a number of Senators who have also commented on this. I just wanted to pass that on and would ask the Minister to pass it on to her staff. The messages are crisp and clear, there is no ambiguity about them, they are simple and usually only run to one page. I do not want to associate the Minister with former politicians who referred to one page but I acknowledge the quality of the departmental communications.

Before I deal with the affordable child care scheme, which the Minister has spent most of her time here talking about, it is important to point out that every Government Minister should keep a copy of the programme for Government on his or her desk. We talk about new politics and co-operation but in reality, it is not a question of new politics but of everyone working together to get business done, which is no bad thing.

I would like the Minister to address a number of issues, if not today, then at some point in the future. The first issue is the Government's proposal for new in-school speech and language services, for which there is a real need. I am constantly receiving representations about speech and language therapy. That commitment is contained in the programme for Government. The Government is also supposedly committed to further investment in the National Educational Psychological Service, NEPS, which is really critical. Early intervention is so important in children's formation and can shape outcomes into the future. I would like to hear the Minister's views on this issue. I am also interested in hearing the Minister's views on the proposal to develop a national parenting support plan, which is also contained in the programme for Government. I do not want to go into too much detail on all of this now but I ask the Minister, on her return to this House at a future date, to go through those sections of the programme for Government that relate to her Department and to outline progress on same.

I would like to hear the Minister's views on how the local city and county councils' child care committees are dovetailing with her work and how the Department liaising with them. There are long-established child care committees in every local authority but I am not hearing too much about them. Are they being utilised to the full? I would also like to hear some more about capacity in the child care sector. Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee referred to capacity in her contribution. We are constantly hearing about people who cannot get access to child care. Capacity is an issue and many people are leaving the sector because of new regulations. I have no problem with the new, stringent regulations relating to child care provision, which are really important but people are opting out because of them. Capacity is a real issue in south County Dublin and, I am sure, all over the country in both urban and rural areas. There seems to be some confusion about existing schemes which the new affordable child care scheme will replace and perhaps the Minister can clarify the matter. We currently have the community child care subvention scheme, the child care and educational training support programmes, the after school child care programme and the community employment child care programme. The Minister's new scheme will take all of that over. Will it replace the existing schemes and when? There is a lot of ambiguity about that. When is the scheme kicking in? We know it will kick in some time in 2017. How will it impact the existing schemes? Can the Minister tell us today that her affordable child care scheme will replace the aforementioned schemes, namely the community child care subvention scheme, the child care and educational training support programme, the after school child care programme and the community employment child care programme. The people involved in those schemes are not too sure what will happen.

I wish the Minister well. She is in an exciting ministry and I wish her the best of luck with it.