Emer Currie (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Today I want to speak about the updated procedures that were announced last week by the Minister, Deputy Foley, on the use of school buildings, including sports facilities, outside of school hours. It has come up in this House quite a lot and I have raised it myself frequently. If we have public sports facilities in schools, they should be accessible by the community outside school hours. This is also the case for childcare, after-school care and school-aged care. I appreciate that the policy has been updated. It has given clarity to schools that might want to take this step but perhaps do not know how to go about it. There are schools that do know this but that do not want to open their doors. I am concerned that the policy does not have the teeth to deal with that. We are at a turning point where there is a crisis of supply in childcare. Our sports facilities need to be used as often as possible and must be as open and accessible as possible, because we are investing a lot of money in them. My suggestion relates to how the sports capital grant incentivises schools to open their doors to the community, but there is not the same provision when it comes to childcare. I think we need a similar fund for the schools that are hesitant to share their facilities in the afternoon. Could grants be available, for example, for a prefab that needs updating, but that the school is not going to pay for? The school is probably not going to use it and will probably not apply for emergency works when it may have work to do elsewhere. What about a grant for childcare supply similar to the sports capital grant to deal with that? The Department of Education also has to overcome barriers, such as leases for sports facilities. There is a new supply management unit in childcare, which I think could own that fund.