Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I welcome my friend and colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Deputy Callely, to the House. I declare an interest in that I am chairman of the County Leitrim child care committee with which I am proud to be associated since it was statutorily set up. I am also the parent of a special needs child and consequently would have a wider agenda in terms of the provision of child care facilities. I am pleased to say the Department has substantially funded and supported, from its inception, the provision of a state-of-the-art child care facility in Drumshanbo, County Leitrim, my home town, at a cost in excess of €1 million. The facility is progressing satisfactorily with in excess of 100 children being catered for throughout the day from pre-school through to after-school service in one part of the building, while a special needs class operates under the "childhood days" banner in other part of the building.

The facility, which is based on a voluntary organisation is run voluntarily and, therefore, the prices for child care facilities reflect its voluntary nature, although run on a professional basis. The centre is in the process of applying for a further €750,000 for a proposed extension. This is a reflection of the wider demand across the country that a small town with some 1,300 people on the register is able to cater for that number of children in its catchment area and also has a waiting list.

A study was carried out on behalf of counties Leitrim, Sligo and Donegal child care committees to establish benchmarking for childminders which is a growing part of child care provision. Under the equal opportunities childcare programme the Department is actively encouraging more qualified childminders to take on this role. In Leitrim, which has a dispersed population as has Donegal and parts of Sligo, childminding initiatives are vital for the provision of a first class standardised child care service.

In the context of the study visit, certain recommendations were brought forward which I passed on to the Department to help it formulate a response. It recommended that formal networks be established in the north west similar to those in the UK which are nationally recognised. The following measures need to be taken. There is a need for a national registration of all child minders irrespective of the number of children they mind. Implementation of this recommendation would streamline the child minding sector as there would be no difference between a notified or non-notified child minder. National registration for all childminders would also be an enticement for the childminder to operate within the formal economy. A national quality standard needs to be established in this area. It is recommended that one Department take on an inspectorate role with a separate brief for childminders, as distinct from the provision of child care facilities. Criminal record checks for all adults over 16 years of age who reside in the home where a child care service is carried out have obvious benefits. A tax credit for parents who use registered child minders as an incentive for parents to use quality child care should form part of the Government's approach to encouraging more people to take on a childminding role in their homes. The training structures which are in operation should be revised to offer accredited progression paths for child minders to tie in with the FETAC accreditation in child care at level 3. Level 3 is the optimum at which childminders operate.

I pay tribute to the County Leitrim partnership, in association with my child care committee, which continues to organise courses for those wishing to enter the childminder and child care field by providing FETAC awards at levels 1, 2 and 3. This will apply to childminders who are the managers of home-based child care services. It is suggested that implementation of these measures would professionalise home-based child care. Formal networks can provide monitored quality tailored to local needs. They can be seen as a progression in networking which is a further option for quality improvement.

It is also recommended that the establishment of one-stop-shops for children would further support quality child care and that membership of the NICMA by Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo child care committees as a quality partner would enable them to receive regular newsletters and information about childminding in the UK, which is the benchmark. The report on which these recommendations were based has been passed on to Childminding Ireland to assist its strategic work on policy development within the child minding sector and to explore further ideas for 2006. I hope these recommendations, which form part of the study visit and which were financed by the three child care committees in question, would help in the further development of child care facilities and childminding in Ireland which, as the Minister of State is aware, is the single biggest issue facing parents across the country, alongside the delivery of other services.

Since the establishment of the equal opportunities childcare programme in 1997, significant amounts of money have been provided for child minding. There is also the recent promise of Exchequer funding which means we will not have to wait for what is coming from Europe. I would like to think the future for the expansion of child care and childminding facilities in Ireland is rosy. I look forward to the Minister of State's reply.

Ivor Callely (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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I am delighted to respond to the matter raised on the Adjournment by my good friend and colleague, Senator Mooney. I take this opportunity to congratulate him and the other members of his child care committee. The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is aware of the commitment, interest and work of Senator Mooney in the area of child care and the work of his committee. I congratulate the Senator and ask him to keep up the good work.

The Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, would like to be here but is involved in other business and has asked me to apologise on his behalf. It may be helpful to know that the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, has not formally received a copy of the report to which the Senator referred and is not aware of the views of the Health Service Executive on the recommendations contained therein.

The main recommendation in the report which relates to the Department of Health and Children is that there be a national registration of all childminders irrespective of the number of children they mind. The position is that the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 1996 and amendment regulations 1997, give effect to the provisions of Part VII of the Child Care Act 1991 and provide for notification to, and inspection by, the Health Service Executive of pre-school services. The regulations apply to pre-schools, play groups, day nurseries, crèches, child minders looking after more than three children and other similar services which cater for children under six years of age.

Childminders who care for not more than three pre-school children of different families, a sibling group or children of relatives are exempt from notification requirements and inspection requirements of the Child Care Act 1991 and the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 1996 and amendment regulations 1997. New primary legislation would be required in order to introduce a requirement for such childminders to notify and be inspected or to introduce a registration system for such childminders, as referred to by Senator Mooney.

The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, is aware of Senator Mooney's interest in this area. His Department has commenced a review of the preschool regulations due to be completed shortly. This may provide the opportunity to consider some of the issues raised validly by the Senator.

A voluntary notification and support system for which funding was provided by the Department of Health and Children is in place aimed at childminders of preschool children who are not covered by existing legislation. These are childminders looking after three or fewer preschool children, a sibling group, or children of relatives, in the childminder's own home. Childminder advisory officers are employed to work specifically with such childminders. Their role includes providing information, facilitating the establishment of networks and organising training on relevant topics for childminders as well as providing advisory visits to the homes of childminders in order to assist them in developing best practice.

The authors of this study visit report are employed in that capacity. The childminder advisory officers also work closely with the county child care committees. I note that other recommendations relate to tax credits for parents who use childminders and to a training structure for childminders.

In previous years I availed of childminders. Tax credits for parents availing of child care and training issues for the child care sector are broader issues requiring consideration. I congratulate and thank Senator Mooney for bringing this matter to the attention of the House. The Senator may be interested to note that following a decision of the Cabinet committee on children, a high level group, chaired by the National Children's Office, NCO, was established to consider the issue of co-ordination in the early childhood care and education areas and the national policy implications arising from the OECD thematic review of the area.

The terms of reference of the high level group on early childhood care and education are to recommend an integrated national policy on child care and early education which will result in improved co-ordination at national and local level and which incorporates a child-centred approach to service delivery. The group is chaired by the National Children's Office and comprises representatives of the Departments of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Health and Children, Education and Science, Social and Family Affairs, Finance and the centre for early childhood development and care. The high level group is due to report back to the Cabinet committee on children in July 2005. The report will include consideration of key policy issues in regard to the development of early childhood care and education in Ireland.

The report referred to by the Senator also recommends criminal record checks on all adults over 16 years of age who reside in the home where a child care service is delivered. In this regard, on the basis of a working group on vetting report, the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, announced last autumn on behalf of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the provision of additional staff resources for the Garda central vetting unit to enable the Garda Síochána's vetting services to be extended to all persons working with children and vulnerable adults. The announcement implements one of the key recommendations on vetting by the working group. The other practical recommendations are being brought forward by an implementation group chaired by the Garda Síochána and comprising representatives of the Department of Health and Children, the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, the Department of Education and Science, the Department of Finance, the Office of the Attorney General and the voluntary sector.

The extension of the services of the Garda central unit will commence in the course of this year, as soon as the necessary practical arrangements are in place and public announcements will be made in this regard in due course. The extension of the vetting services to cover family members of child minders may be considered in the future subject to available resources.

The report makes other recommendations relating to membership of the National Childminding Association, UK, NCMA, presenting the report to Childminding Ireland and a suggested collaborative project, which the authors may wish to follow up with the Health Service Executive and the county child care committees.

I am well aware, as is the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, of the valuable contribution which childminders make to child care in Ireland by caring for young children in a home-like setting. Material gathered by the Central Statistics Office under a special module of the quarterly national household survey, shows that childminding is the child care option chosen by many parents in Ireland. It may be delivered by relatives or by private childminders and through the formal economy or the informal economy.

Apart from the development of new centre-based child care services and the support of community based not-for-profit services which make child care services available to very disadvantaged families, the equal opportunities childcare programme, or EOCP, which is operated by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform with EU and Exchequer funding also puts considerable resources into the enhancement of quality throughout the child care sector. This includes a number of initiatives which specifically support and enhance the quality of child care provided by childminders.

Since 2002, the city and county child care committees have received funding for childminding initiatives, specifically to provide training, information and networking opportunities for childminders. From 2004, this effort was supplemented by a new initiative which provides each committee with funding for a small grant scheme for childminders who attend a quality awareness programme on key elements of child care delivery.

The grant scheme provides grants of up to €630 to childminders, to cover quality and/or safety enhancement costs. The key aims of the quality awareness programme is to bring childminders up to date with current thinking in the sector and to encourage them to consider formal training. There has been a high level of take-up in respect of the quality awareness programme — higher in fact than for the grants — and this is a heartening indication that childminders across the country are eager to further improve the quality of the services they provide.

The programme also supports Childminding Ireland which was founded in 1983 as a professional association of childminders who are self-employed and work in their own homes. Along with six other national voluntary child care organisations, the programme funds them on the basis of annual action plans they submit to promote quality in the child care sector. Childminding Ireland has proved a valuable partner in the promotion of higher standards among childminders.

The Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform believe the acknowledged success of such initiatives will enhance the quality of care for all the children cared for by childminders who benefit from the training, networking and other opportunities which they receive under activities supported under the EOCP and that this will enhance the quality of life of the childminders who will no longer operate in isolation. I hope this information is helpful to Senator Mooney. Working with our colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, I have no doubt we can make further progress in this area.

Paschal Mooney (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State on behalf of our colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Brian Lenihan, and for his kind remarks about my modest contribution in this area.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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The Senator has received a comprehensive reply.