Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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597. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason the early years inspectorate has issued a direction to end, with immediate effect, access by school aged children to school aged care but are not yet enrolled in primary school; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9044/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The regulation of early years services is dealt with in Part VIIA of the Child Care Act 1991. The Act defines a 'school-age service' as one which:

• caters for children under the age of 15 years enrolled in a school providing primary or post-primary education,
• provides a range of activities that are developmental, educational and recreational in manner, which take place outside of school hours, the primary purpose of which is to care for children where their parents are unavailable, and
• the basis for access to which is made publicly known to the parents and guardians of the children referred to in paragraph (a) of this definition.

There has been no change to this definition since amendments were introduced through the Childcare Support Act 2018.

As a result of this definition in primary legislation, in order to attend a school-age childcare service a child must be under the age of 15 and enrolled in a school providing primary or post-primary education.

Pre-school services operate under different regulations from those that apply to school-age services. Section 58A of the Child Care Act 1991 defines a 'pre-school child' as a child who has not attained the age of six years and who is not attending a recognised school. The different regulations that govern services for pre-school children safeguard appropriate care ratios and ensure that staffing levels meet the developmental needs of children in the particular service type.

Tusla, the independent statutory regulator for early years services, including pre-school, childminding and school-age services, is responsible for maintaining the register of services, inspection and where necessary, enforcement under the Child Care Act 1991. The recent Regulatory Notice issued by Tusla re-states the existing legislation.

My Department has recently commenced the process of drafting comprehensive regulations for school-age childcare services, building on the initial 2018 registration regulations. As part of this process, my Department is also reviewing the legislation underpinning the regulation of school-age childcare. The drafting process will include further public consultation, building on the public consultation previously undertaken in 2019. I am looking forward to engaging with the sector and relevant stakeholders in the coming months on this matter.