Seanad debates

Wednesday, 18 April 2018

Childcare Support Bill 2017: Second Stage

 

10:30 am

Photo of Colette KelleherColette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister, Deputy Zappone, to the House. I welcome the drive, energy and hard cash that she has been investing in our young children since her appointment.

As the Minister said in her speech, research has proven that access to good quality early childhood care and education, integrated with maternity, parental and paternal leave is good for children, especially in tilting the balance for children experiencing disadvantage. I am thinking about the 3,500 children living in emergency accommodation, the estimated 139,000 children living in consistent poverty highlighted by CSO in December, Traveller children and children with disabilities. I am also thinking of children living in direct provision. I volunteered this summer in a holiday-placement scheme supporting them. They really are living in the most dire and limited circumstances.

Investing in early childhood care and education has a multiplier effect. It is good for children. It is also good for their mothers and fathers, in supporting them and allowing them to take up training, study and work opportunities. Investing in early education and childcare also means that Ireland is at last beginning to catch up with what parents and children take for granted in other countries Europe, a matter to which I will return later. For too long we have been an outlier and laggard in this regard, letting down our children, compromising their parents' ability to get on and damaging our society and even our economy.

The Childcare Support Bill is a definite step in the right direction. I welcome that it is putting the affordable childcare scheme on a statutory basis for the first time. It was very heartening to listen to the budget and, as well as the usual lines we all look out for, having childcare there as a line to look out for, to monitor and to fiercely argue for because we are really only beginning as far as I can see.

I welcome that a single, streamlined system is being put in place. Bureaucracy, poor policy design and complexity often get in the way of good political intention. The affordable childcare scheme needs to be simple for providers. I remember getting an angry call from the then Secretary of State, David Blunkett, now Lord Blunkett, for being critical of the 45 funding streams for childcare the UK Government had put in place back in the late 1990s. Investment is only good if it can reach the parts, if it is straightforward and simple, and if it is under good governance. This is especially so for parents. Schemes must be user-friendly, as is mentioned in the briefing note, particularly if the Minister’s intent to reach poorer parents and reduce child poverty is to be achieved. I will be scrutinising this and other measures as the Bill progresses through the House. I may table some amendments.

I welcome the supply-side approach. Demand-side subsidies really do not work. I speak as someone who previously argued for them in the UK, but I was wrong. The Minister is right in having this supply focus.

I also welcome the amendments to section 13 when making regulations and having regard to parents’ availability to care for a child, and the bridging periods before, after and between periods of work or study. It is really important that we get this right so that the scheme can be workable in real life for parents.Sometimes the policy makers' design is impossible to work in practice. It would be a disappointment if such a worthy scheme were to fall foul of complexity.

I welcome the amendment to section 14 around the provision of support for vulnerable children and measures to enhance the child’s stability. We are all aware of how moving around, dislocation and different arrangements can affect children’s sense of security and well-being, the very children who may already have suffered greatly. We want to do everything to support them and not make anything worse for a child by the poor design of a well-intentioned scheme.

I welcome the commitment to regulate school age childcare. This was the focus of my first job in childcare in the UK in 1990s. When we hear about scandals in sports and in scouting it is about time that Ireland brought in these much needed regulations to safeguard children. Children who attend can also benefit from the affordable childcare scheme. I welcome commitment to strengthen the quality and availability of childcare with childminding to come under the scope of the regulations.

The proposal to begin review of the scheme 12 months after the first payments are made is also welcome as is the commitment to strengthen the wording in relation to the purpose of referrals for childcare support from Tusla.

I direct the Minister to a good report from OECD, Thematic Review of Early Childhood Education and Care Policy in Ireland, in which I was involved. This report was published in 2004 - 14 long years ago. At the time I was working as an adviser to the UK's Minister of State for Children Margaret Hodge, embedded in the Department for Education and Skills in Whitehall. I was also part of the OECD review team under the leadership of John Bennett. I dug out the report on Sunday and in many ways it makes for disappointing reading. In spite of great efforts and energy on the part of the Minister, Deputy Zappone, Ireland is still lagging far behind our European counterparts with regard to early childhood care and education. The 2004 OECD report made many sound observations and good suggestions to the Government that have yet to be taken up. It is a useful checklist for the Minister, Deputy Zappone and her officials and I shall now highlight some key points from the report. It advises the integration of all early education and care policy under one Ministry; annual targets so that progress can be checked; and, attention to the early years and childhood needs of disadvantaged children, children from the Traveller community and children with disabilities. The 2004 report stated explicitly that the educational achievement of Traveller children is a matter of deep concern. It was then and it still is. Report after report shows this and would be good to hear from the Minister what she is going to do about the early childhood and education gap for Traveller children through this Bill and other measures.

Other good suggestions made by OECD in 2004 include funded parental leave of sufficient length; free accredited early education; a publicly funded morning education session for all children from the age of three; and the wisdom, positive effects and cost effectiveness of intensive early intervention. I would love to see a Sure Start style scheme rolled out in Ireland. I have seen the benefits of this type of scheme and I am heartbroken at its dismantling in the UK. We should look to this type of scheme and be ambitious about it.

The OECD strongly advised that Ireland should quickly reach the average rate of public expenditure for OECD countries for early childhood education and care. The affordable childcare scheme will help but I would like to know where we stand now regarding the average spending vis-à-visthe OECD league table of investment in early childhood care and education. As pointed out by Senator Clifford-Lee, I would also like to see how we are faring and what we should aim for in the budget with regard to achieving the goal of getting to the average.

I thank the Minister for her drive and commitment to improving early childhood care and education in Ireland and for bringing forward the Childcare Support Bill 2017. I look forward to working with her to make the Irish early education and care system fit for the modern State that we are, and above all good enough for Ireland’s children and their parents.

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