I hope the Minister of State has listened very carefully to the many speakers in this House. I have sat in for most of the debate and I think it is clear from Members of the Opposition, as well as her own party and Government backbenchers, that this Bill does not actually deal with the nub of the issue. If the issue in terms of assessments of need was that we have far too many children on the waiting list who do not actually need to be on the waiting list and we need to remove them from the waiting list, then this …

I hope the Minister will consider the Sinn Féin legislation being debated here this evening to reduce the cost of home heating oil. The households of the vast majority of the people I represent, the people of Roscommon and Galway, use home heating oil. As we approach the budget, there will be a lot of focus on the fuel allowance. The fuel allowance is well and good for those who receive it. It is a help to them. However, the vast majority of working people do not receive the fuel allowance. The evenings are getting…

I send my best wishes to Deputy Michael Healy-Rae and his family. I ask the Minister for an update on the eight locations that will be chosen for the first time for State-led childcare facilities.

I thank the Minister for the update. It is important that we see that substantial progress as we approach October and come almost to the end of the year. There are many eyes on where the eight locations will be. I appreciate I sound like a broken record about Boyle in County Roscommon. The feasibility study about the need in Boyle in north Roscommon is that there are 20 childcare places per 1,043 households. I have lost count of how many times I have put that on the Dáil record, but the Minister will be aware, or h…

I have raised with the Minister many times the matter of looking at other ways that we can quickly build capacity. The State-led approach is one for sure, but there is also the building blocks programme. I again ask that consideration be given to allowing building blocks capital to be used to buy existing buildings. In many towns, particularly in rural areas like my own, across Roscommon and Galway, there are buildings. It is the quickest way to build badly needed capacity in the early years sector. The other point…

For carers and the loved ones they care for, respite is really important. It should not be beyond us to ensure that respite is guaranteed and consistent rather than having a situation where service providers go year to year looking at lists of people in terms of who they can and cannot give respite to due to funding implications. In County Roscommon alone, we have 120 people on waiting list for day and overnight respite. Ahead of the budget, I request that respite be looked at. It is not only about the break for th…

I move: That Dáil Éireann: acknowledges: — the importance of affordable and accessible childcare for children and parents, neither of which are being achieved for many families across the State; and — that there is no early years or childcare sector without the Early Years Educators and School-Age Childcare practitioners who work in it; notes that: — childcare costs remain far too high and are in excess of €800 per month in many parts of the State; — access to childcare is now a major labour market issue affecting …

That is up to the parent if he or she wants that

That is up to the parent.

It is as though we are reading two different motions. Contrary to what both Ministers have said, the motion is not just about affordability and accessibility. In fact, in that first €10 a day childcare plan in 2024, I ensured it was not just about affordability and accessibility, as I have done with this motion. It is about our educators. Mostly, the motion is about paying them what they deserve. It is also about childminders, core funding and parents' leave, issues I have raised repeatedly since I became my party …

I want to begin by wishing Deputy Ennis well. I look forward to working with him both in the House and on the committee. I congratulate him on his appointment. I want to ask the Minister about the eight locations that will be chosen this year for the State-led childcare facilities, which is something I very much welcome. I would really appreciate an update on where we are at and when we will see those locations announced, particularly as we come to the halfway point in the year.

I welcome this, but we all know, and it is no secret to say, that eight locations will be announced this year to provide, I understand, about 800 places. We have to look at the level of need. We know there are between 40,000 and 50,000 children on waiting lists across the State. Ahead of the budget, I want to ask the Minister again about the next phase of building blocks, given the level of need and demand that exists. I met IBEC last week to discuss women in particular not being able to return to the workforce. Th…

I know I am like a broken record, but it would be remiss of me not to mention Boyle in north Roscommon. The needs analysis, which was very well done, showed that the national benchmark is 20 childcare places per 75 households. In the town of Boyle and in the surrounding rural area, there are 20 childcare places per 1,043 households. There is a real need in Boyle, and that has been proven through the needs analysis I shared with the Minister and the forward planning unit, which very kindly gave us an extremely helpf…

I wish to ask the Minister about voluntary residential care services in our State in terms of looking after some of our most vulnerable children, namely, children in the care of the State. I recently visited a voluntary residential service and was really impressed. It was literally like walking into any other family home in the country. I want to ask the Minister specifically about investment in these voluntary, not-for-profit services. Targets have been set for increased capacity by Tusla but they have not materia…

The committee on children will be writing to the Minister, if she has not already received our correspondence, asking that she seek a specific allocation for Tusla in the budget that would be used to expand residential places within the voluntary sector. I am really uncomfortable with the reality right now whereby we have voluntary residential services that have been in place for decades, are regulated to the hit, and rightly so, have to account for every red cent they receive and return any unspent moneys, while a…

The issue I am raising is that while funding to Tusla has increased, the question is where that funding is going. Given the crisis that exists for any child who is in care and while acknowledging that foster care is absolutely the number one option, I ask the Minister, where fostering is not available, to look to invest within the voluntary sector. I was really alarmed to see correspondence from America in a couple of instances recently looking to see whether people would be interested in setting up residential pla…

I also want to raise with the Minister the issue of the childminding regulations. I understand that the review of the regulations is imminent. We need to ensure that we get the regulations right. That is what we all want. It is very much what childminders want. Can the Minister provide further information on when the review will take place?

I thank the Minister. I cannot believe after all of my questions on this, the review began on Friday and I did not even realise. I thank the Minister for that important information.

Obviously, I will follow up on that tomorrow. It is very clear that there is an issue when you look at the number of childminders who have registered with Tusla. It should be of concern to all of us and that is why this review is so important. I do not know if the Minister has up to date figures. The most recent figure was, perhaps, 160. The Minister can correct me if I am wrong. Based on that figure, the review is important but it is really important there is some level of a communication campaign with clear infor…

This is certainly an issue on which we are all very much in agreement, not least because we desperately need to retain the childminders we have and we need more of them. We have heard anecdotally, particularly through the media, about childminders who have decided to end providing that much-needed service. The Minister and I know the greater level of flexibility, particularly in rural areas, it provides over an 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 6 p.m. formal childcare setting. That is really important, particularly in rural area…