Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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31. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the level of progress that Tusla - Child and Family Agency is making in the registration and inspection of early years services under the Child and Family Agency Act 2014; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [42686/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The legislative changes to the Child Care Act 1991 which were enacted through the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 include the requirement that every pre-school service must be registered with the Child and Family Agency before being permitted to operate. Every pre-school service that was notified to the Health Service Executive prior to the commencement of the Child and Family Agency Act was deemed to be registered for a period of three years. This requirement has been in place since the Act was commenced in January 2014.

The Child and Family Agency holds a register of all the services deemed registered in accordance with the Act, and new services registered since January 2014 are entered onto this register.

The legislation requires that every pre-school service that was deemed registered under the terms of the Act must be re-registered by 1 January 2017. The Department is working with the Agency to ensure that this task will be completed within the required timeframe.

I secured additional funding of €1.1m in budget 2016 to support the Agency expand its Early Years Inspectorate. This funding will be used by the Agency to recruit 17 additional staff, including additional Early Years Inspectors and a Registration Manager who will run a dedicated Registration Office where all the administrative tasks associated with registration will be carried out.

The Deputy may wish to note that the Early Years Inspectorate had inspected 1,659 services by 30 September this year, an increase of 68% on the same period in 2014.