Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South East, Independent)
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96. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the specific actions taken to date to address the misgivings uncovered since the investigation by RTÉ into abuses in creches in May of 2013; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53844/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The commitment to improve the quality of early childhood care and education for all children has been a key priority for me since becoming Minister for Children and Youth Affairs. This is why my Department and I have been progressing work on Ireland’s first-ever Early Years Strategy, and working on a comprehensive Pre-School Quality Agenda which aims to improve quality standards in pre-school services in Ireland.

Since the broadcast of the Prime Time programme, significant progress has been made in the eight areas which I identified as requiring urgent reform, and legislation to underpin these reforms has now been passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas. The legislation allows for:

- regulations for early years services to prescribe minimum levels of qualifications for persons working in early years services. As a result, I will be introducing a minimum qualification of FETAC Level 5 for all staff working with children in pre-school services;

- the introduction of a new registration system for all early years services which will require persons wishing to open a new pre-school service to register with the Pre-School Inspectorate in advance of being permitted to operate. The service design and suitability for purpose will be examined at this stage and a follow-on inspection after the service has opened will examine its care and welfare practices; and

- increased penalties for persons convicted of regulatory breaches, including a Class A fine (i.e. up to €5,000). In addition, Pre-School Inspectors will have the option to remove a service provider from the pre-school register or attach conditions to a provider’s registration. Protocols will be developed in conjunction with the new Child and Family Agency as to how the various levels of regulatory non-compliance will be reported.

The introduction in 2014 of new regulations for early years services, to give effect to the legislative provisions, will also include the introduction of new National Quality Standards which will replace the existing explanatory guidelines with a new outcomes approach and supporting criteria; against which the quality of childcare services will be measured.

The successful implementation of the Síolta and Aistear frameworks on a national level requires childcare practitioners to have a thorough understanding of quality early years provision. In 2014, I will be establishing a new National Quality Support Service for pre-school services which will work directly with childcare services to improve the quality of pre-school care and education.

In preparing for the establishment of the Child and Family Agency, the Children and Families Services Division of the HSE has worked to address the need for a more coherent national approach to the regulation of early years services and the development of the Pre-School Inspectorate as a nationally co-ordinated service. Standard Operating Procedures have been introduced to address inconsistencies and provide clarity and transparency to early years services.

In July of this year, the Pre-School Inspectorate commenced the publication of retrospective pre-school inspection reports online, and this process is continuing. All new inspection reports completed from 1st July are also being published online. Pobal is hosting the publication of the pre-school inspection reports, and they are available on the Pobal website.