The purpose of the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations, 1996, is to build on the existing good standards in our pre-school services and gradually improve standards throughout the sector to secure the health, safety and welfare of pre-school children and to promote the development of children attending pre-school services. Under the regulations, pre-school providers are obliged to notify their local health board that they are carrying on or proposing to carry on a pre-school service. On receipt of notification, the health board will provide relevant information to the applicant and arrange for an inspection to be carried out by an authorised person. Some 2,481 such inspections have taken place to date. Where breaches of the regulations are identified following inspection, health boards can bring the matter to the attention of the District Court under Part VII of the Child Care Act, 1991.
The Southern Health Board brought a prosecution against one provider who was obliged by the court to cease operating her service for a period of 60 days. All health boards report that they are aware that a number of pre-school service providers have closed their service voluntarily either before or after inspection as they are aware that they fall short of the standards required by the regulations.
The Deputy will be aware that the Partnership 2000 expert working group on child care under the auspices of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, examined the provision of a co-ordinated national framework for the development of a child care infrastructure, including the financing and resourcing implications of its implementation. The report of the group was launched on 3 February 1999. The Government established an interdepartmental committee on child care chaired by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to evaluate, cost and prioritise the proposals in the report and the child care proposals in the Action Programme for the Millennium, the Report of the Commission on the Family and the Report of the Forum on Early Childhood Education. The report of the committee has been noted by the Government which has referred the report for consideration to a ministerial group. The Deputy will appreciate that, having regard to my responsibilities, the health, safety and welfare of children must be my primary consideration.