Anne Rabbitte
Question:832. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs when she will issue a commencement order for the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015. [21341/16]
View answerTuesday, 12 July 2016
Questions (832)
Written answers
As the Deputy is aware, the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 was signed into law in December of last year. The Act, which amends the Child Care Act 1991, has three distinct elements. While the main body of provision relates to aftercare (under sections 2-9), the legislation also includes technical amendments on foot of the commencement of the Child and Family Agency Act 2013 (under sections 13-15), as well as amendments to sections governing early years services (under sections 10-12).
The early years elements of the Act were commenced by the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 (Commencement) Order 2016, Statutory Instrument (S.I.) No. 203 of 2016. The Commencement Order appointed the 26th of April, 2016 as the day upon which sections 1, 10, 11 and 12 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015 came into operation.
Section 1 provides for the definitions required in the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015, defining the principal Act as the Child Care Act 1991 and the Act of 2011 as the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011.
Sections 10, 11 and 12 provide for amendments to the Child Care Act 1991 to enable Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, to visit premises where it is proposed that an early years service will be provided. It allows inspectors to assess an early years facility before such a service has been registered with the Agency, to ensure that it is fit for purpose, and it introduces new powers regarding registering providers of early years services, removing providers from the register, and attaching conditions to a registration.
With regard to the technical amendments, covered under sections 13, 14 and 15, a draft Commencement Order is currently being finalised by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel. The commencement of these sections will need to be sequenced appropriately with the commencement of related sections of the Health Act 2007 and the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2011. It is anticipated that the technical amendments will be commenced shortly.
Finally, with regard to aftercare, which is covered under sections 2 to 9 of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2015, commencement of the relevant provisions will depend on the outcome of consultations with Tusla with regard to appropriate timing and the readiness of the Child and Family Agency to implement same.