Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1699. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the process by which early years inspectors make registration inspections with reference to the average waiting times between initial inspection and report finalisation. [36370/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The reference to a "registration inspection" is understood to mean the inspection that is carried out by the statutory regulator of early years services, Tusla, prior to registering a new service in relation to which an application for registration has been made. This initial inspection of a potential early years service is termed a “Fit for Purpose” inspection. This inspection is undertaken when all application documents have been submitted by the applicant and the registration form has been completed. An inspection is then scheduled within a month of completion of the registration form. At certain times of the year, summer applications are prioritised in order to facilitate registration of new services in September. Tusla advises potential service providers applying to register a new early years service to allow three months for registration to be completed.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1700. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if, in the event of a service being removed or deregistered from the early years register, this deregistration applies to the person appointed as the service provider or the service itself. [36371/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In the event of a service being removed from the register, under its powers as set out in Section 58D of the Child Care Act 1991 (as amended) the statutory regulator (Tusla) de-registers the registered provider and their registered company, if applicable, in relation to that service. In effect, therefore, Tusla may remove a single service from the register. However, depending on the nature of the reason for deregistration, Tusla may take this factor into account when considering whether further enforcement actions - up to and including the possibility of prosecution - might be necessary in relation to any other services who have the same registered provider. In cases where a registered provider is convicted of an offence under that Part of the Child Care Act 1991, or of an offence that in Tusla's opinions renders such person unfit to carry on an early years service, Tusla shall remove the registered provider from the register, thus impacting on all services for which that person is a registered provider. In such a case, Tusla shall also refuse to register any new services for that person.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1701. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if, in the event of a service being removed from the early years register, there are consequences for other services operated by the same service provider. [36372/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In the event of a service being removed from the register, under its powers as set out in Section 58D of the Child Care Act 1991 (as amended) the statutory regulator (Tusla) de-registers the registered provider and their registered company, if applicable, in relation to that service. In effect, therefore, Tusla may remove a single service from the register. However, depending on the nature of the reason for deregistration, Tusla may take this factor into account when considering whether further enforcement actions - up to and including the possibility of prosecution - might be necessary in relation to any other services who have the same registered provider. In cases where a registered provider is convicted of an offence under that Part of the Child Care Act 1991, or of an offence that in Tusla's opinions renders such person unfit to carry on an early years service, Tusla shall remove the registered provider from the register, thus impacting on all services for which that person is a registered provider. In such a case, Tusla shall also refuse to register any new services for that person.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1702. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of services that are deemed non-compliant by service type, that is, sessional full day and county, in tabular form. [36373/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The independent statutory regulator of early years services, Tusla, does not reference an overall status of "non-compliant" in relation to an early years service. Rather, compliance is assessed in relation to each of the individual regulations within the Early Years Services Regulations, as a service may be found non-compliant in relation to one or more regulations but compliant in relation to others. Following a finding of non-compliance in relation to one or more regulations, an early years service is then given the opportunity to rectify the position and become compliant in relation to those regulations. As a result of the regulatory work undertaken by Tusla, levels of non-compliance across the sector are reducing.

On a periodic basis, Tusla collates data from inspections and publishes summary analyses of inspection findings. The latest such analysis is available in the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate Annual Report for 2017, which is published on the Tusla website. The annual report provides information relating to the levels of compliance in the sector in that year. In 2017, the year covered by that report, 12,857 regulations were assessed across 1,563 inspections, and of these regulations 3,217 (25%) were non-compliant. Not all regulations are assessed at each inspection. About one-third (32%) of inspection reports analysed in that year did not record any non-compliant regulations, and a further one-third (32%) recorded either one or two non-compliant regulations.

The 2018 annual report of the Early Years Inspectorate is due for publication in October 2019.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1703. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department or an agency operating under its aegis assigns a risk rating to early years services that have been inspected. [36374/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Officials in my Department have requested the required information from Tusla, the Child and Family Agency. This information will be supplied to the Deputy in no later than 10 working days. I have asked my officials to follow up on this to ensure delivery as a matter of urgency.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1704. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if it is mandatory or policy for early years inspectors who find non-Garda-vetted members of staff on site during an early years service inspection to report this breach of the law to An Garda Síochána. [36375/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Where an Early Years Inspector from Tusla, the statutory regulator, finds that a member of staff working in an early years premises has not met the Garda Vetting disclosure requirements, that member of staff is required to leave the premises and is not permitted to return to work until such time as vetting has been secured and assessed by the service provider. The inspectorate uses the extent of their powers as set out under the Child Care Act 1991, Early Years Services Regulations 2016, to address the matter. Where there is persistent and significant non-adherence in relation to this Regulation, the matter will in such instances be referred to the National Garda Vetting Bureau compliance team.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1705. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there is a memorandum of understanding between Tusla and An Garda Síochána to allow early years inspectors who find non-Garda vetted members of staff on-site during an early years service inspection to report this breach of the law to An Garda Síochána. [36376/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Where an Early Years Inspector from Tusla, the statutory regulator, finds that a member of staff working in an early years premises has not met the Garda Vetting disclosure requirements, that member of staff is required to leave the premises and is not permitted to return to work until such time as vetting has been secured and assessed by the service provider. The inspectorate uses the extent of their powers as set out under the Child Care Act 1991, Early Years Services Regulations 2016, to address the matter. Where there is persistent and significant non-adherence in relation to this Regulation, the matter will in such instances be referred to the National Garda Vetting Bureau compliance team.

A regular liaison function exists between the National Garda Vetting Bureau and the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate. To provide clarity in relation to the processes already in place and to ensure good governance, a Memorandum of Understanding is currently in development between Tusla and An Garda Síochána. Referrals between the Tusla and the Garda Vetting Bureau form part of this Memorandum of Understanding.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1706. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the process by which an early years inspector can report a fire safety concern to the relevant authorities; and the follow-up that is then expected from the fire service. [36377/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Where an Early Years Inspector that is part of the statutory regulator, Tusla, has a fire safety concern in relation to an early years service, a referral may be made to the relevant local area fire authority by letter. This is usually followed by a written response or communication from the fire authority to the provider. Where minor matters of fire safety are identified, an Early Years Inspector may address the matter under the Early Years Regulations. Where the matter is more serious, a referral to the fire authorities will be made.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1707. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of fitness to practise letters issued to early years employees with qualifications from other countries by county and year of issuance since 2016, in tabular form. [36378/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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A key priority for me as Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is seeking to ensure high quality early learning and care services for children, which includes having a valued and stable workforce. The Workforce Development Plan aims to lay out a clear pathway for achieving the commitments set out in First 5for the development of the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. It will identify actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector, as well as to recruit and retain skilled professionals.

The Early Years Sector Profile report 2017/2018 is a comprehensive source of information on the sector in Ireland. The data and findings from the report play an important part in tracking progress and changes within the sector as well as identifying emerging needs. Particularly notable from this report is the increase in the number of children using centre-based services and the numbers of staff employed in these services. I am delighted to see that these early years professionals are becoming increasingly more qualified, as the survey reflects. The data for the 2018/2019 Early Years Sector Profile Report is being compiled at present and will be available before the end of 2019.

My Department has published a list of early years qualifications, from both Ireland and abroad, that are recognised for the purposes of meeting the requirements of the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 and the contractual requirements for the ECCE programme funded by my Department.

If someone who wishes to work in an early learning and care service in Ireland has a qualification that is not on the published list, that person can apply to my Department seeking a letter of eligibility to practice. An assessment is then made as to whether that person's qualification meets the standard of recognised qualifications. Early learning and care professionals cannot be employed by a service provider until their qualifications are approved, if their qualification award is not on the published list.

My Department receives a diverse range of qualification applications for awards obtained abroad for recognition. My Department also receives applications from professionals whose qualification award is already on the published list, and a letter of eligibility is not necessary for these applicants.

In the following table I have outlined the total number of letters of eligibility to practice issued to applicants with qualifications from other countries in tabular form from 2016 to date. As many applicants are living abroad when they apply for qualifications recognition, I am unable to give information on the applications from foreign applicants by county in Ireland.

Please note: the above table does not include early learning and care professionals whose award is already on the published list of recognised qualifications.

Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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1708. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the average frequency of inspections of early years services by county, in tabular form. [36379/19]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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It is not possible to give a simple measure of the frequency of inspections of early years services carried out by the statutory regulator, Tusla, as there are a number of different categories of inspection, including "fit-for-purpose" inspections carried out when a new service is being registered, unannounced inspections, and unannounced follow-on inspections.

Furthermore, the frequency of inspections is dependent on several factors including the level of compliance found on the last inspection, unsolicited information received, whether or not conditions have been attached to services' registration, the length of time since the last inspection and/or where there is a change in circumstances or a notification of instances which requires review.

"Fit-for-purpose" inspections are carried out in relation to all new early learning and care services, with the timing dependent on the timing of the application to register.

Every single registered early learning and care provider, of which there are 4,435, has been inspected by Tusla’s Early Years’ Inspectorate. A total of 2,513 inspections were conducted in 2018, an increase of 90% since 2014 (1,326).