Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 4 July 2013
28. Deputy Mary Lou McDonald asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the measures she will introduce to bring current child care regulations into line with the standards that all service-user parents, and Irish society generally, expect; the staffing levels, training and oversight requirements she proposes to apply; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32580/13]
View answer38. Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she has pressed, or will press, for the publication of all Health Service Executive inspection reports on child care facilities completed over the past three years; when the publication of said reports on completion will come into effect as standard practice; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32579/13]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 28 and 38 together.
Preschool services are governed by the Child Care (Preschool Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006 as provided for under the Child Care Act 1991. Preschool inspections, which are the responsibility of the Health Service Executive (HSE), are necessary to ensure compliance with the Regulations and the delivery of quality childcare services.
In relation to the publication of preschool service inspection reports, the HSE Preschool Inspectorate is working to put these online. In the first instance the reports will be available from the Pobal website via a direct link on the HSE website. A commitment has been given to place new reports, once completed, online from 1 July 2013. I understand that the first of these will be placed online in the coming days. Work is ongoing to have reports on all services online by the end of the year and my Department is supporting the HSE and Pobal in this work.
I have identified a number of key areas of action which I believe need to be considered and addressed as a matter of urgency. These include introducing a registration system for all school services; taking steps to make the inspection system more consistent and more robust; publishing inspection reports on-line as soon as possible; ensuring appropriate action is taken in response to findings of non-compliance; increasing and widening the sanctions which can be taken for non-compliance.
My Department is also undertaking a review of the penalties currently in place for breach of the Child Care Regulations. The review will look at increasing the range and severity of the existing penalties including the actions which can be taken by Inspectors without recourse to court prosecution, as is currently the case.
It is important to realise, however, that inspections alone are not the answer to improving and maintaining quality. What is required is a multifaceted approach. The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme introduced the first-ever requirement for minimum qualifications for staff working in the childcare sector. At present, this requirement is limited to the preschool leader delivering the preschool year and the level of qualification is minimum Level 5 on the National Framework of Qualifications of Ireland (NFQ). I believe it is important to introduce qualification requirements for all staff working in preschool services. For this reason, I have indicated my intention to increase the minimum requirement of Level 5 for preschool leaders delivering the preschool year will be increased to Level 6 and to require all preschool assistants and all other staff caring for children in a preschool service to hold a minimum qualification of Level 5. These new requirements will apply from September 2014 for new services, and from September 2015 for existing services.
As Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, driving the early childhood care and education quality agenda is one of my key objectives. I believe we can achieve this objective by taking a number of steps including working with the Department of Education and Skills to develop a more comprehensive and broadly-based inspection regime for preschools.
I am also looking at ways to further support the implementation of the Siolta and Aistear frameworks in preschool services. The successful implementation of the Frameworks on a nation-wide level will require all childcare practitioners to have a thorough understanding of quality early years provision and I welcome the fact that the Department of Education and Skills is looking at developing a more accessible practice manual to assist preschool services in implementing Síolta and Aistear.
