Marie Sherlock (Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for reading that reply. The statement of the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth that it has an effective process in place to support providers is simply not true. To say that the buck should be passed to the city and county childcare committees is simply unacceptable. The question here is not about the day-to-day costs; it is about undertaking a lease in a new facility. The providers to which I refer, one of which is a community provider, do not have a hope of finding an alternative location. I would say to the Department there is a real issue here because we are depending on people setting up a preschool out of the goodness of their hearts, either as a community facility or a for-profit facility. If there is an issue with the lease, that service disappears overnight. That is not good enough in 21st century Ireland. I know the Minister of State will relay that message back to the Department. The detail we have here is not good enough in terms of ensuring we have secure and sustainable locations for preschool education.