Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 November 2020
622. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of public consultations that were held by his Department in late 2019 on the childminding action plan; and the groups with whom his officials held focus groups on the plan. [36540/20]
View answerA public consultation process on the Draft Childminding Action Plan ran from August until November 2019. The process involved several elements, which included:
- An invitation to make written submissions.
- An online survey, which ran from 29 August to 10 October 2019, with 467 respondents (57% of whom were childminders).
- 32 focus group meetings with childminders, held in October and November 2019.
- An Open Policy Debate, held on 16 October 2019, with a wide range of stakeholders.
32 focus group meetings with childminders took place across the country organised by the City and County Childcare Committees, with at least one event in every county. In total, 205 childminders took part.
A report on the 2019 consultation process on the Draft Childminding Action Plan will be published shortly.
The Draft Childminding Action Plan was based on the 2018 report of the Working Group on Reforms and Supports for the Childminding Sector, 'Pathway to a Quality Support and Assurance System for Childminding'. As part of its work, the Working Group carried out a consultation with parents through a parents’ survey in May 2017, and consulted childminders through a survey of Childminding Ireland members and a discussion day that allowed more in-depth discussions with 22 childminders from around the country. It also drew on the findings of the consultation with 177 children aged 5-12 that was undertaken in 2016 to inform the Action Plan on School-Age Childcare. The parent’s survey had 3,630 responses, and asked questions about use of childminding and attitudes towards childminding. The survey of childminders had 357 responses.
All aspects of both the 2018 and 2019 public consultation processes are being taken into consideration in the revision and finalisation of the Childminding Action Plan.
