Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent)
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306. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the position regarding the budget and poor pay and conditions of child care workers (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45085/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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Approximately €260m is invested annually by the Government to support the provision of early childhood care and education through three childcare support programmes, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme and the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes. Despite the difficult budgetary position that has prevailed in recent years, the Government has maintained the investment in these programmes, in particular the free pre-school programme which alone costs €175m annually. While considerable progress has been made in correcting the overall budgetary situation, the funding available to my Department does not allow for the consideration of an increase in the capitation paid to childcare providers participating in the ECCE programme at this time.

These programmes, and in particular the Early Childhood Care and Education programme, provide a guaranteed source of income to participating services and given that many parents would otherwise not be able to avail of pre-school care and education for their children, the funding has ensured that many childcare services, both commercial and community, have the resources to continue to operate.

All international research and experience shows that the supports provided to children in their early years results in improved outcomes for children and an economic and social return to the State, but only where the services provided are of a high quality. Following the broadcast of the Primetime programme in May 2013, Minister Fitzgerald announced the Early Years Quality Agenda which comprises a range of actions designed to improve quality in early years services. These actions include the strengthening of the Early Years Inspection system, the introduction of a registration system for all pre-school services and supporting the implementation within early years services of the Síolta Framework and the Aistear Curriculum.

Within the broader context of quality improvement, the Department of Education and Skills Inspectorate has been asked to lead and organise focused inspections on the quality of educational provision in early childhood education settings participating in the ECCE programme. These education-focused inspections will concentrate on the improvement of educational provision for pre-school children, and will complement the inspections undertaken by the Child and Family Agency Early Years Inspectorate.

A National Early Years Quality Support Service, known as Better Start, has been introduced. This service has 30 graduates in early childhood care and education who will work directly with services to improve quality, including assisting services in the implementation of the Síolta Framework and the Aistear Curriculum. The National Manager of the Service has been recruited and the Early Years Specialists took up their posts in October. The new service will work closely with the City and County Childcare Committees and the Voluntary Childcare Organisations to support service providers in improving the quality of their services. The work of the service will be based on a new Practice Guide based on Síolta and Aistear, which is currently being developed by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA).