Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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621. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when she will arrange for payments to issue out of the €1 million fund to community early years child care providers in recognition of the impact on those providers of the full implementation of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 relating to the minimum FETAC level 5 qualification for staff; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15417/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I understand the Deputy is referring to the Regulations made in 2016 which require that all staff members working directly with children in pre-school services must hold at least a major award in early childhood care and education at level 5 on the National Qualifications Framework, or a qualification deemed by the Minister to be equivalent. This requirement came into effect for newly-registering services on 30 June 2016 and for existing services on 31 December 2016. The requirement to have a qualification to provide care and education to young children has been extensively welcomed.

I recognise the impact that this change is having on community settings – from my own experience, from a number of meetings I have had with providers and representative groups, and from the Early Years Forum I established to ensure that providers’ voices are heard. I am acutely aware of the challenge that has been posed to services.

In preparation for the implementation of the Regulations, my Department commissioned Childcare Committees Ireland (CCI) to investigate the impact of the new childcare regulations on community childcare providers. All Community Childcare services around the country were afforded an opportunity to engage with this project during 2016, and detailed analysis has been completed.

The CCI work indicated that the vast majority of services would not face financial hardship as a result of changes required under the regulations. However it did find that some services had come to rely on Community Employment (CE) scheme workers, and I determined that these services should be provided with additional funding until September 2017, to enable them to transition to a more sustainable footing. Of course, the position of CE scheme workers is only one aspect of the challenge facing community services, and I absolutely recognise that this funding is acutely required in light of these challenges.

The sector has taken the initiative in commissioning and completing research highlighting the challenges they face, and I am aware that we need to get the funding model right for these services. This is a complex issue; and I hope that providers will appreciate that we have had to move to tackle the most urgent issues first, designing a new model of eligibility for families, tackling the CE scheme issue and providing funding for ‘non-contact time’ for the first time. This does not mean that I do not recognise the particular challenges being faced by services working in the most disadvantaged areas.

Officials in my Department have been working with Pobal and Childcare Committees Ireland to get funding out to services impacted by the change in relation to CE scheme workers; and I understand that contracts to enable payment have now issued to services. Funds will be disbursed without delay once these contracts are signed.

Delivering high quality, accessible and affordable childcare is my key goal, and this funding will ensure that every child will be cared for by a qualified professional, and that services can sustain existing levels of provision, while they prepare for the new Affordable Childcare Scheme. I will be announcing further information on this new Scheme in the coming weeks.