Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I welcome today's motion and the discussion about childcare. At the outset, I pay tribute to the Minister and this Government for the work they have done over the past four and a half years. It has been hugely important and massively accelerated the professionalisation and development of early learning and childcare in this country. With this motion, we are rightly discussing the need for the development of childcare facilities in new areas. However, the reality is that at the start of this Government's term the sector was on its knees and nearly at the point of collapse. That was the starting point. The work done by the Minister and the Government has stabilised and strengthened that sector and given it a chance to survive, thrive and develop. We have done that through a series of measures, primarily the introduction of core funding.There has been a lot of debate and discussion in the sector and indeed in the Dáil, mostly from ill-informed members of the Opposition trying to score points and sow discord within the sector. The fact is, core funding is good for the sector, staff, parents and the professional development of childcare and early learning. In recent weeks, some hugely significant pieces of work have been introduced by the Minister. First, there is Equal Start, which ensures children from areas of disadvantage, Traveller children, Roma children and children availing of the national childcare scheme through its sponsor body can access meaningful participation in early learning. That funding, which will equate to nearly €14 million in a full year, is a significant body of work. The Child Care (Amendment) Act 2024 is going to help massively as well. People are talking about the availability of spaces. The Act will enable childminding-specific regulations, which will enable parents who use childminders to access national childcare scheme subsidies. There is also the €25 million building blocks extension grant scheme, to which reference was made.

Senator Gavan spoke about the colleagues he has dealt with across with across Europe and the concept of public provision of childcare, and I do not necessarily disagree with that. However, what we have to recognise is how the sector in Ireland evolved in the first place. We were not on a par with those countries and to compare us would be like comparing apples and oranges. Notwithstanding that, we are building an early years education sector that is fit for purpose. We regulated the private market. Sometimes people demonise those in the private sector, but they are providing the facilities and the education system that we require. They are the people who were in situ. Rather than discard decades of work and professionalisation that was done, the State engaged with those people and, through public money, regulated the sector to ensure fairness for parents and to bring that system together. Recognition of that would not go amiss when we are debating that and comparing and contrasting us with Europe because there are many positives. It is a disservice to the professionals working within the sector not to acknowledge that.

In respect of those delivering it, it would be remiss of me not to mention the county childcare committees that operate the delivery of those services at a local level in particular. My wife was the co-ordinator in Meath for many years. The work they do in delivering the schemes on behalf of the Government is hugely significant. In mentioning Meath, let us take a cursory glance at some of the figures, because there is over €300 million in core funding. What does that mean as a case study in one particular county? In Meath, the number of services in contract for core funding in 2023 was 183 and they were receiving nearly €10 million worth of funding from the Department, with an average payment of nearly €54,000 and a median payment of some €24,000. As regards the narrative going on here, 99% of all those services benefited from increased funding under core funding and approximately 1% benefited from a funding guarantee that ensured no service would receive less. That is important in the context of this debate.

I welcome the debate and the highlighting of areas of concern. When planning authorities are dealing with new development, there is a very good synergy between local authority planning departments and county childcare committees. Oftentimes there are issues pertaining to displacement, in terms of demographic changes, and natural wastage that happens within the sector. There are many people in the Houses who like to refer to the number of services that are closing. If we drilled into the figures and met and talked to those people, we would know they are closing because they are coming up to retirement age. The number of services coming on stream is exceeding the number that are closing. I urge those who speak about this, especially those in the Opposition, to show a bit of fairness. If they have no fairness for those in government, they should show a bit of fairness to those actually delivering the services on the ground because they are doing an exceptional job. I thank the Minister for his work in the area.