I have no doubt that the availability of child care is a major influence in enabling parents with family responsibilities participate in the workforce. The type of child care arrangements most appropriate to the different circumstances of children and families is, in the first instance, the responsibility of parents to decide. However, the Government is committed to the stimulation and development of such facilities by employers, parents and community interests and would like to see increasing availability of child care facilities across the community, whether work-based or otherwise.
The provision of child care facilities, as a means of ensuring equality of opportunity in the workplace, is a matter appropriate for attention in the context of collective bargaining. Partnership 2000, the new national agreement between Government, the social partners and community interests, provides for the establishment of an expert working group, to be chaired by my Department, to devise a national framework for the development of the child care sector.
Women currently comprise over one third of the labour force. This participation is increasing as many more women are remaining in the workforce after marriage, thereby causing a continuing increase in the demand for quality child care. In many cases, the availability of child care is a crucial factor to their participation. However, the necessary child care facilities are not yet sufficiently widely available and my Department will continue to promote the adoption of family friendly arrangements in the workplace, which have been shown to be beneficial both to businesses as well as employees.
The success of the Pilot Childcare Initiative, as borne out in the report of the independent evaluator of the initiative, is an example of what can be achieved when provision is made to cater for the child care needs of a community. My Department is responsible for funding the pilot Childcare Initiative, which commenced in 1994 and has continued in each subsequent year, including this year. The scheme is intended to assist the initiation of projects for the establishment, on a pilot basis, of child care measures utilising the skills of trained local people, to enable local residents to undertake education, training, retraining and employment opportunities which they would otherwise be unable to do, in the absence of a child care facility. It is a condition of the scheme that grants are confined to groups in disadvantaged areas. For this purpose, it has been agreed that these be defined as areas in which there are area based partnerships/local community groups currently in receipt of funds from the global grant for local development.
The scheme is administered, on behalf of my Department, by Area Development Manager (ADM Limited) which is an independent company designated by the Government and the European Commission to support integrated local economic and social development in co-operation with relevant area partnership companies.