Children’s Committee to commence hearings on quality and affordable childcare

6 May 2015

The Oireachtas Joint Committee on Health and Children will tomorrow commence a series of hearings on how quality and affordable childcare can be developed in Ireland.

Addressing the Committee tomorrow will be:

•     Ciairín de Buis, Director, Start Strong;
•     Teresa Heeney, Chief Executive Officer, Early Childhood Ireland;
•     Orla O’Connor, Director, National Women’s Council of Ireland, and
•     Maria Corbett, Deputy Chief Executive, Children's Rights Alliance.

The Committee is planning to hold a number of meetings on this topic, with a view to compiling a report for government.

Committee Chairman Jerry Buttimer TD says: “The provision of affordable and quality childcare is an issue that impacts on the lives of many families. Recent surveys indicate that parents need to be earning up to €30,000 per year just to cover the costs of childcare for two children. This places a severe financial burden on already hard pressed families. Those involved in providing childcare services also face challenges in recruiting and retaining staff as well as trying to balance the need to provide services that are both affordable and of high quality. Tomorrow’s meeting, the first in the series, will inform a report the Committee intends to publish on the issue in order to assist in the development of a comprehensive policy for childcare in Ireland.”

In a separate session at 11:30 am, Tusla - the Child and Family Agency, will update the Committee on child protection issues in the Laois/Offaly area.

Deputy Buttimer continues: “Minster for Children James Reilly TD publicly updated the Dáil sub-Committee on Children last week on unidentified files uncovered in the Laois /Offaly area relating to child safety. The Committee is gravely concerned about the potential risk to the safety of any child in the area and we are keen to take this early opportunity to engage with Tusla. We will hear from Tusla Chief Executive Gordon Jeyes on the progress so far this week in reviewing the hundreds of files that were mislaid and on the steps in place to safeguard against a repeat occurrence of missing files.”

Tomorrow’s meeting will commence at 9:30 am in Committee Room 2, Leinster House, tomorrow, Thursday 7 May 2015.

Committee proceedings can be viewed live here.

The first hour of the meeting will be broadcast live on Oireachtas TV, available on UPC 207, Sky 574 and eVision 504. Committee proceedings can also be viewed on the move, through the Houses of the Oireachtas Smartphone App, available for Apple and Android devices.

Media enquiries to:

Paul Hand,
Communications Unit,
Houses of the Oireachtas,
Leinster House,
Dublin 2
P: +3531 618 4484
M: +353 87 694 9926
paul.hand@oireachtas.ie

Committee Membership:
Deputies: Jerry Buttimer (Chair), Catherine Byrne, Ciara Conway (Vice-Chair), Regina Doherty, Robert Dowds, Peter M Fitzpatrick, Seamus Healy, Billy Kelleher, Eamonn Maloney, Clare Daly, Sandra McLellan, Dan Neville, Mary Mitchell O’Connor, Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin and Robert Troy

Senators: Colm Burke, John Crown, John Gilroy, Imelda Henry, Marc Mac Sharry and Jillian Van Turnhout