Seanad Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 5 May 1999

Vol. 159 No. 5

Adjournment Matters. - Child Care Facilities.

Ms O'Meara

There is a need for a consistent approach from our planning authorities to ensure that crèches and child care facilities are developed throughout communities. I do not need to tell the Minister of State how urgent this matter is. The phenomenal growth in the number of parents at work, and mothers in particular, has led to a crisis in the provision of child care facilities. This was set out comprehensively in the National Childcare Strategy Report published in January by the expert working group on child care operating under Partnership 2000. It is a very good report and the working group achieved consensus despite the high number of members.

One of its many recommendations relates to planning and that could be implemented by the Government immediately. The report states that there are inconsistencies both within and between local authorities in granting planning approval for child care facilities. In many instances only temporary approval is granted and there are also inconsistencies between the requirements of planning authorities and health board inspection teams with respect to space and numbers. The planning authorities are strategically placed to play a facilitating and regulating role in the provision of child care facilities through their inclusion in development plans. These plans range from local to county plans and include environmental and integrated plans.

The report recommends that the Department of the Environment and Local Government, based on that information, in consultation with the proposed National Childcare Management Committee, should set and publish national guidelines for the granting of planning approval for child care facilities. The report goes on to state that as a matter of urgency planning authorities should include planning and control guidelines for the provision of a range of facilities in their development plans.

This is an urgent matter. Arising from this report an interdepartmental committee has been set up, presumably to put together the nuts and bolts of how the recommendations will be implemented. Considering the wide range of recommendations, I wish that committee well. However, many thousands of parents can wait no longer. I know from my experience and that of Oireachtas colleagues that there is quite a problem at local level with child care in the community because crèches are being closed due to planning regulations, they are not being allowed to open or are told they can only cater for eight or ten children. This is inadequate and there is also the inconsistency where health board regulations may allow a crèche in a residential area, such as a housing estate, while a planning officer may not allow it. This is putting even more pressure on this sector.

I appeal to the Minister of State to deal with this matter urgently. He does not need legislation but can work by way of regulation. The group which issued this report had local authority members and the matter has already been explored in depth so the Department does not have more work to do. I hope the Minister of State is not about to say that we must wait for the report of the interdepartmental working group before acting; if he does, that will mean a delay of at least another 12 months. Parents cannot wait, as the Minister of State knows, and neither can crèche owners. There is a certain amount of dithering on this issue due to the political difficulties with commitments given on tax relief.

Child care has become a bottleneck like housing and traffic and the Government has failed to plan ahead for the growth in the work force and the resulting crisis in child care. This is putting pressure on parents to find good child care and they must then sit in traffic jams on the way to work to meet the crippling cost of their mortgage. I ask the Minister of State to act in this area without waiting for the interdepartmental committee to report because the matter is so urgent.

Local authorities have no consistent approach to crèches. Some grant planning permission and some do not; some allow large numbers in crèches and some do not. Local authorities do not have an imaginative approach, for example, shopping developments or high density developments, such as apartment blocks, should have to include provision of crèches as part of planning applications. It makes no sense to have competing regulations by the health boards and planning and fire officers.

The failure to plan for child care in the community is just one more bottleneck which is not being tackled. Lone parents and low paid couples cannot afford to work because of the cost of child care and they are also being let down. The way forward is to develop a nationwide system of affordable quality child care that is located where it is needed in the community. This can be encouraged with consistent, high quality planning regulations designed to ensure that crèches develop in the community which are safe and healthy for all who use them. I am not against regulations. They are essential but they should be consistent and constructed in a way which will encourage the urgent development of child care provision. This is not hard to achieve but it is not being done. A bottleneck has developed which is causing crises and trauma for working parents. I hope the Minister is about to tell us that this matter will be being tackled immediately.

Minister of State at the Department of Education and Science (Mr. Fahey)

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. My colleague, the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Deputy Dempsey, is unable to be in the House to respond and has asked me to do so on his behalf.

As the Senator is aware the expert working group on child care under Partnership 2000 has recently published its report on national child care strategy. This report contains wide ranging recommendations relating to the provision of child care in Ireland. Included in the report are recommendations with regard to the planning system. The report recommends the issuing of national planning guidelines for the granting of planning approval for child care facilities and, furthermore, that local planning authorities should include in their development plans, planning control guidelines for the provision of a range of child care facilities.

The Government established a high level interdepartmental committee to evaluate, cost and prioritise the proposals in the report of the expert working group on child care and the child care proposals in An Action Programme for the Millennium, the report of the Commission on the Family and the report of the forum on early childhood education, and to make recommendations in relation to child care on the strategy to be adopted by the Government in the forthcoming negotiations on a successor to Partnership 2000.

The Government, in recognising the urgency in addressing the issue of making better provisions for child care facilities, has asked that the interdepartmental committee report back within six months. The Department of the Environment and Local Government is represented on that committee and the Minister wishes to assure the Senator that full consideration is being given to the planning issues raised in the report.

The provision of child care facilities is important for the development of communities and appropriate provision should be made in development plans of local authorities. The Government has recently approved the drafting of a major new planning Bill for the reform, modernisation and consolidation of the planning code. It is hoped that this Bill can be published by mid-year. As part of this reform the Minister for the Environment and Local Government will endeavour to facilitate improved provision in development plans for child care facilities.

The making of development plans is a matter for individual planning authorities with which the Minister for the Environment and Local Government does not normally become involved. However, he is pleased that many planning authorities have already set out their policy on childcare provision in their development plans.

A crèche or playschool can have important planning impacts on the immediate area in which it is located, for example, by increasing the level of traffic and parking at certain times in residential streets and the need for appropriate parking while children are dropped off and picked up at the centre. In the interests of the proper planning and development of an area, these issues need to be considered. This gives an opportunity for the local authority to ensure that child care facilities are provided in appropriate locations and enables people living in the area to comment on proposed developments. The extension of child care facilities can also have planning implications. Site and location issues may mean that a local authority cannot grant planning permission for an extension to an existing facility.

I would agree that many of the planning applications which have been made in recent times are due to the implementation of the Childcare (Pre-school Services) Regulations made by the Minister for Health and Children which have placed restrictions on the numbers of children which can be catered for in some existing premises. This has led to many of these providers seeking extensions to their premises in order to comply with the child care regulations and to make their operations viable. Some of the proposed extensions may not have been suitable on proper planning and development grounds.

The Department of the Environment and Local Government is considering, in the context of the interdepartmental committee on child care and the child care regulations, how to encourage best planning policies on the provision of child care facilities.

Given my own reponsibilty for child care and the implementation of the regulations, I agree with the Senator's comments. The uneven approach of various local authorities to planning permission for crèches and playschools presents a problem. I have had meetings with officials of the Department of the Environment and Local Government in an effort to come to grips with it and I hope the interdepartmental committee on child care will help to draw up national guidelines.

It is important to take a practical approach to the problem. Forcing crèches and playschools into commercial properties will drive the cost of the facilities out of the reach of families. We have many good examples of crèches and playschools located in housing estates and residential areas. They do not cause major problems when they are properly controlled and planning conditions are adhered to. I hope the recommendations of the interdepartmental committee will enable crèches and playschools to continue to develop in residential areas where they are most appropriately placed.