Mary Seery Kearney (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House and I thank him for taking these statements on childcare. We have long since moved on from the concept of childcare as childminding. We see it now as the vital, wrap-around care of children, entailing the provision of and support for their early development. Childcare is pivotal to the functioning of our society. That was never driven home more at any point than during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The first 1,000 days of a child's life require incredible levels of investment and support. Families must be supported as they live their lives in our busy society and economy. The pandemic gave us the perspective that allowed us to see just how pivotal childcare is. Quality care for our children enables access to the workplace for parents and supports families. Predominantly, however, it enables support for women and their access to the workplace. It is extremely important that it is entrenched in the programme for Government. We have been on a trajectory of increasing supports for childcare over several years. Under the Minister's stewardship of the Department, we have seen that provision grow exponentially. I am grateful for that.

I am delighted to see the profile of childcare raised. I refer to the professionalism evident in this context. When the preschool regulations changed in 2016, we saw great momentum in moving towards developing qualifications in this area, quality input, tracking development and having bespoke responses for certain children. I was a mentor with the city and county childcare committee in Dublin. That entailed going into many of the services being provided to see the detailed level of support being provided for children. It perhaps reflected the needs of the families concerned. It is a vital personal support for our next generation. The Minister is aware of this and his speech highlighted just how much is being done in this area. Staff working in childcare have been undervalued for a long time. Their rates of pay did not improve as they became more professional and more qualified. Therefore, the employment regulation order is a vital extra step. It is a fantastic vision and its realisation cannot come soon enough.

Trying to retain childcare staff is important. I refer to situations where I was perhaps sent in to troubleshoot difficulties in a service. Many people who would have said they were going to come to an interview did not show up. They were undertaking that process through Intreo, but it was not financially viable for those people to take a job in childcare. I am glad we are moving away from that situation and that we will see structured rates of pay for the different areas in this sector. It is not just the rates of pay that are important, but also a structured career path in the childcare sector. I see us as having embarked on this path.

This is a precarious enough time for childcare providers. We did not know how remote working was going to go. We did not know if that would change the pattern of working or how it would be possible to make available the childcare services offered. I say that because a great deal of childcare relies on structure, structured hours, children arriving at a particular time and on routine in that regard. I refer to anticipating what that context will look like and then having universal provision that will ensure that no matter where people might be in the country they will have access to good quality childcare. This is an important aspect. From that perspective, the core funding approach is an excellent model. Even going through the notes we sought regarding extra information, it is apparent it is an excellent model.

I have come across one challenge in this context. Based on what the Minister said in his statement, I think there is probably going to be a positive response to it. I refer to situations where I have gone through the procedure with some childcare providers as they entered the details of their services through the ready reckoner. They came out with a great amount of money at that stage. When one provider went through that process, she said the ready reckoner gave her a total of €39,800. That was for a small provider. Representatives of the city and county childcare committee then did the calculations with her manually and they were only coming out with €18,200. That is quite a disparity, and it would lead to the end of that service if it were to be the case. Obviously, everyone is optimistic and hoping the ready reckoner is spot on, but we must be absolutely clear that either the ready reckoner outcome is the definitive funding allocation or that clarification will be provided if there is some kind of misunderstanding or miscommunication regarding how funds are being calculated. This is important. I refer to where there are disparities. This has happened in the cases of a few childcare providers I have spoken to, so clearly something is going on in this regard. It is unfortunate that there has been misinformation regarding what is a very positive development.

I spoke to the Minister before about after-school services, especially those in Dublin 8, and about ensuring there is provision in this regard, particularly in situations where mothers are at home. There are some cases where children are going to DEIS schools because that is the need. Therefore, it is important to have after-school services available when children are doing their homework and to ensure such services are financially viable. I appreciate these services are also going to come under the auspices of the core funding model and I would value an opportunity to go back over this issue again with the Minister at some point.

I also take this opportunity to thank the Minister for allowing myself and other members of the Fine Gael policy lab to present our "Care of the Child" policy to him. It was the result of 2,500 people engaging with us. Those included providers, parents and childcare professionals. One of the many things that came out of the process was this idea of having a childcare agency. I am delighted that the report from Indecon International Economic Consultants on the review of the operating model has suggested something similar. I refer to having a central agency that oversees the inspectorate, education and funding and development.When there are planning applications in my constituency of Dublin South-Central and there is a requirement to have a childcare facility within that because they reach the criterion of the number of apartments in a complex, they get to set aside the need based on there being a certain number of places in local crèches. I appreciate that is a Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage issue and is not something the Minister can control but while he is at Cabinet, he might have a word. The criterion according to which the need to provide a childcare facility is set aside is incorrect because there can be a childcare service close by but it is full to capacity and has a waiting list. That would assist in the Minister's drive for more facilities and places.