Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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955. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if he will clarify the regulations regarding after-school care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33607/20]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018, announced in December 2017, came into force on 18th February, 2019. These Regulations enable School Age Childcare (SAC) services to register with Tusla and participate in the National Childcare Scheme.

These initial Regulations are limited in scope and intent, providing primarily for the registration process, and they will need to be replaced by comprehensive Regulations, which are expected to address wideraspects of quality, including qualification requirements for staff. My Department is working through all the interconnected elements, but I also recognise that there are complex legal issues involved – likely to require amendments to primary legislation – that may take time to address.

In September 2020, I launched the National Quality Guidelines for School Age Childcare Services. The Guidelines set out desirable good practice to which services should aspire rather than minimum requirements that all services must meet (which is the focus of Regulations). These Guidelines describe the characteristics expected of a high quality SAC service, and are expected to provide a basis for future training courses on quality SAC, mentoring supports, and self-evaluation tools by which SAC providers can seek to assess and improve their own practice.