Written answers

Wednesday, 27 May 2020

Department of Children and Youth Affairs

Covid-19 Pandemic

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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868. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when childminders will be able to recommence providing services to parents that are healthcare workers, essential workers and all parents in their own homes and in the home of the child. [7608/20]

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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869. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if guidelines have been created to support childminders reopening their services following the easing of Covid-19 restrictions; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7610/20]

Photo of Anne RabbitteAnne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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870. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if financial supports will be made available to childminders for the purpose purchasing PPE material. [7615/20]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 868 to 870, inclusive, together.

As the Deputy is aware, at present the public health guidance issued by the HSE is that childminding should only take place in the child's home, not in a childminder's home. This is to avoid households mixing, and is important as part of the stay at home measures.

On 1 May the Government released its Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, which sets out Ireland's plan for lifting COVID-19 restrictions through five phases. The re-opening of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare (ELC and SAC) services, which includes childminding, will be guided by this framework and will be underpinned by the Return to Work Safely Protocol, expert advice, available evidence and consultation with ELC and SAC stakeholder representatives.

The Roadmap proposes the gradual re-opening of ELC/SAC services as follows:

- Phase 3 (29 June), opening of crèches, childminders and preschools for children of essential workers in a phased manner with social distancing and other requirements applying.

- Phase 4 (20 July), opening of crèches, childminders and preschools for children of all other workers on a gradually increasing phased basis and slowly increasing thereafter.

My Department is currently developing proposals for the different phases of reopening in line with the Roadmap. This is complex work and must balance a number of important issues.

I am actively engaging with key stakeholders in the sector to make sure that the work on re-opening services is informed by the practical constraints that services - including childminders - face. I have established and chair an Advisory Group that includes membership from across the sector, specifically the Association of Childhood Professionals, Childminding Ireland, Early Childhood Ireland, the National Childhood Network, the National Forum for Community Childcare Services, PLÉ, Pobal, Seas Seas and SIPTU, as well as Pobal and Tusla.

Officials in my Department are currently liaising with the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) in relation to advice on infection prevention and control, including the use of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE), by childcare providers. Public health guidance on these matters will be shared with childcare providers at the earliest opportunity.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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871. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the membership of her advisory group on reopening early learning and care and school-age childcare services; and the process by which the members of the working group were selected. [7649/20]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The members of the Advisory Group on the phased re-opening of childcare services are the Association of Childhood Professionals, the Community Forum, Early Childhood Ireland, National Childhood Network, PLÉ and Seas Suas, Childminding Ireland and SIPTU. Pobal and Tusla are also members of the Advisory Group.

In establishing the Advisory Group, I provided six places for sectoral representatives. The sector itself decided on the nominees and these include representatives from the Association of Childhood Professionals, PLÉ, Seas Suas, Early Childhood Ireland, the National Childhood Network and the National Community Forum. Many of these groups represent providers. I included Childminding Ireland and SIPTU as members of the group, as they represent key parts of the early years sector not included in the list above, ie childcare staff and childminders.

A number of additional provider representative groups have contacted my Department seeking to be added to the membership of the Advisory Group. In response to such requests, I have established a Reference Group, to supplement the work of the Advisory Group. The Reference Group includes representatives from the Federation of Early Childhood, the Association of Full-time Day care Providers, St Nicholas Montessori and a number of service providers. I will chair the first meeting of the Reference Group on 28 May.

In addition to the above, my officials are also engaging directly with all 4,500 providers across the country through regular emails, and are seeking their input to COVID related challenges through a survey of all providers and an open call for submissions.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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872. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if issues raised in correspondence (details supplied) will be considered in relation to the advisory group on reopening early learning and care and school-age childcare services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7650/20]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Deputy is aware that the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented situation that has required a series of emergency responses from the Government and my Department.

My Department and I are engaging extensively with stakeholders in the Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age (SAC) sector, including the representative groups referred to by the Deputy.

Consultation with stakeholders has always been central to the work of my Department, and the Early Years Forum (EY Forum) is a key part of this. The EY Forum meets several times a year and includes representatives of providers, parents and academics with an interest in the ELC and SAC sector. I established the ‘EY Forum Plus’ in March 2020 to widen representation by the sector, to aid my Department in developing a response to Covid-19. The representative groups referred to by the Deputy are members of the EY Forum Plus, which has met on a number of occasions over the past three months. Additionally there has been several more informal interactions between the representative groups and my officials where their points of view were listened to and information shared with them.

I recently established an Advisory Group on the phased re-opening of childcare services. It had its first meeting on 13 May and has met 3 times since. In establishing the group, I provided six places for sectoral representatives. The sector itself decided on the nominees and these include representatives from the Association of Childhood Professionals, PLÉ, Seas Suas, Early Childhood Ireland, the National Childhood Network and the National Community Forum. Many of these groups represent providers. Childminding Ireland and SIPTU are also members of the group.

A number of additional provider representative groups have contacted my Department seeking to be added to the membership of the Advisory Group, including the groups referred to by the Deputy. In response to such requests, I have established a Reference Group, to supplement the work of the Advisory Group. I will chair the first meeting of the Reference Group on 28 May. The representative groups referred to by the Deputy has accepted my invitation to join the Reference Group and I have made clear that I welcome any submissions any of the representative groups may wish to make at any time.

In addition to the above, my officials are also engaging directly with all 4,500 providers across the country through regular emails, and are seeking their input to COVID related challenges through a survey of all providers and an open call for submissions.

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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873. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if research has been undertaken by her Department in order to determine the possible impact of Covid-19 on capacity within the ECCE system in terms of crèche closures and the reduction in capacity associated with social distancing measures; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7656/20]

Photo of Darragh O'BrienDarragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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877. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if her Department has undertaken research in order to determine the possible impact of Covid-19 on capacity within the full-day childcare system in terms of crèche closures and the reduction in capacity associated with social distancing measures; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7660/20]

Photo of Katherine ZapponeKatherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 873 and 877 together.

On Friday 1 May, the Government released its Roadmap for Reopening Society and Business, which sets out Ireland's plan for lifting COVID-19 restrictions through five phases. The re-opening of Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare (ELC and SAC) services will be guided by this framework and will be underpinned by the Government's Return to Work Safely Protocol, expert advice, available evidence and consultation with ELC and SAC stakeholder representatives and providers themselves.

The sector has many questions regarding how the Roadmap will be implemented to enable services to re-open. While the COVID-19 emergency called for overnight action on closures, it is my ambition that the phased re-opening will enable sufficient time and planning to re-open in an orderly, safe and sustainable manner. I would like to reassure providers, practitioners, parents and children that I will be doing my utmost to support the sector in offering as smooth a transition as possible to the phased and restricted re-opening of ELC and SAC services.

My Department is currently working with the sector to answer the many questions that exist, including, as referred to by the Deputy, the issues around capacity and how for example the ECCE programme may operate from September. This is complex work and must balance a number of important issues. My Department has sought public health advice in relation to the plans being put forward. Informed by this advice, consideration is being given to a range of these issues, including:

- Minimising the public health risk, especially given the difficulty of maintaining social distancing among young children and those caring for them,

- Ensuring the need for any restrictions to be consistent with young children’s well-being and development needs and for ELC and SAC provision at each phase to be child-centred

- Providing ELC for pre-school children, meeting parental demand for ELC and SAC as the economy reopens, and meeting the commitment to retain places for families who paid for ELC and SAC before COVID-19, all while restricting capacity and thereby reducing adult-child ratios.

- Ensuring financial sustainability of the sector when capacity restrictions limit income and parents cannot afford to cover any higher costs with higher fees.

- Ensuring a sufficient number of qualified ELC and SAC practitioners, given likelihood of reduced adult-child ratios and existing challenges with recruitment and retention.

I am actively engaging with key stakeholders in the sector to make sure that the work on re-opening services is informed by the practical reality across the country. I have established and Chair an Advisory Group that includes representatives chosen by the sector, specifically the Association of Childhood Professionals, Community Forum, Early Childhood Ireland, National Childhood Network, PLÉ and Seas Suas. The group also includes Tusla, Pobal, SIPTU and Childminding Ireland. The first meeting of this Advisory Group took place on 13 May and I held follow up meetings on 15, 19 and 26 May. A schedule of weekly meetings has also been agreed.

I am also establishing a Reference Group to widen the scope of consultation with the ELC and SAC sector, to supplement the work of the Advisory Group and to give an opportunity to provider representatives who are not represented on this group to make their views known to me and my officials. I hope to hold periodic meetings of the Group as we work through the phased reopening of the ELC and SAC sector. The first meeting of the Reference Group will be held on Thursday, 28 May 2020.

In collaboration with this Advisory Group, officials in my Department are undertaking primary research which is currently being rolled out in order to help us forecast supply and demand in the sector for safely delivering early learning and care and school age childcare in the coming months. Arising from that work, my Department will seek to identify ways to maximise capacity in the best interests of children and parents, while meeting the need to ensure that services re-open safely.

The proposals for re-opening which are in development will have due regard to public health guidance over the phases of easing of restrictions. I am conscious that the proposed timelines are subject to further NPHET advice, and decisions from Government.

There are a number of key decisions to be made across Government that will impact significantly on the ELC and SAC sector, including the future of emergency measures such as the Revenue operated Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection operated Pandemic Unemployment Payment, and other business supports. The proposals for re-opening ELC and SAC services necessarily interact with these schemes and so I will be relying on whole of Government plans, which impact the ELC and SAC sector.

It is my fervent hope that every ELC and SAC service around the country is currently considering how it can be part of helping Ireland get back to work, and how it can support children from 29 June in the very difficult circumstances they have experienced in recent months.

I will undertake to update the Deputy as soon as the work on re-opening services is at a more advanced stage.

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