2025-11-12

80. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will comment on the survey findings by a representative organisation (details supplied) which showed that 80% of childminder services will close; and the actions her Department is taking to address the issue. [61743/25]

Will the Minister comment on the recent survey by Childminding Ireland which showed that 80% of childminding services will close, and will she make a statement to the House on the matter?

As the Deputy said, in a survey recently published by Childminding Ireland, 393 childminders responded to a question about their intentions for when registration becomes mandatory. Some 44% said they were undecided, 32% said they intended to stop childminding and 24% said they intended to register with Tusla. While those who responded to the survey and answered the question represent a small proportion of childminders, with census data indicating there may be approximately 13,000 non-relative childminders across the country, I fully understand the sense of uncertainty and anxiety childminders may be experiencing in this period of transition in relation to registration. Significantly, those childminders who answered the same survey and who had already gone through the process of registration reported very positively on their experiences. In fact, only 4% described their experience as negative - we would not want any percentage there, and we have to work on that - while less than one in eight of those who had been previously registered and who now operate under the new regulations were dissatisfied. I therefore believe that communications will be essential to addressing many childminders' concerns. A national communications strategy is a key element in phase 2 of the national action plan for childminding during the transition period, which lasts until September 2027. Work on this strategy has begun, aiming to inform childminders and parents about the changes, the supports available and what to expect. The childminding-specific regulations, which came into effect in September 2024, are designed to be proportionate and appropriate to the home and family setting in which childminders work. Childminders were consulted on and involved in all aspects of the development of the regulations. Both the steering group for the national action plan for childminding and the various advisory groups that have supported it have included childminders as well as representatives of Childminding Ireland. The steering group will meet again in December in relation to the action plan and advancing supports, communications and any further benefit we can give to childminders to support them in terms of registration.

I need not put on the record of the House how important childminders are to the childcare sector in this country. It has been the subject of many conversations we have had here. The Minister is right to say there are concerns among childminders right across the country as to what this new regulation will mean for them. Many of them are minding two or three children in their own homes and have done so for many years. There is a concern, a worry, as to what starting to fill out forms, etc., and registering will mean for them. What they are looking for from the Minister and from the Department is that they will be able to continue in all aspects with what they have done for years. They are the cornerstones of many communities. I need not put that on the record of the House either. There are concerns coming out of what is happening, including one provider in my county who has now been subject to rates, unfortunately. Will the Minister give that reassurance to those childminders who need it? If our childminders are not there, many working families in this country will run into so many difficulties in the coming weeks.

I concede that childminders are hugely important and make a very significant contribution to caring for children right across communities, even in rural communities. I am very familiar with the extraordinary benefit childminders provide. The Department has committed to a review as part of the transition period. That will commence in 2026. Supports are available to childminders from the city and county childcare committees. Each city and county childcare committee has been funded by the Department to ensure that it has a childminding development officer who is on the ground and available to support childminders with any questions they might have or supports they might require in terms of pre-registration training courses or anything at all of that nature. The childminding development grant provides up to €1,000 to assist both registered and unregistered childminders who are providing a childminding service in their own homes. In 2025, the Department has paid €413,338 to childminders through the childminding development grant. A further round of the grant will be paid in 2026. I have not forgotten the point the Deputy has raised about the question of commercial rates and so on. I am engaged on that with the Minister for housing.

I would welcome if the Minister could mention that because it has become a serious concern for a lot of childminders, who, as she said, are so important to rural life, where it is often a neighbour who is minding two or three children and who has done so for years. If that falls, rural life is really going to be affected for so many people in my area and, I am sure, the Minister's area. The Minister mentioned communications. That is vital for where we are going with childminders because many of our childminders, as I have said before, have been doing this for years out of love for childminding and love for supporting their communities and being recognised as such within their communities. I encourage the Minister to engage as much as possible, as she has been doing, to ensure that we have communications at every opportunity with our childminders, ensuring that there is somebody available to answer the many questions I and a lot of my colleagues are getting. Will the Minister commit to meeting with Childminding Ireland to discuss the concerns it has got and is getting about this registration?

I think we all appreciate that registration is important. It is critical to the safeguarding of children. It involves oversight of Garda vetting, proof of insurance, first aid and safeguarding training and so on. That is a positive thing in terms of registration. Again, there are specific people available through the city and county childcare committees, childminding development officers, who are available on the ground to offer support. A communication strategy is being developed. I am absolutely engaged with the Minister for housing in relation to this issue that has arisen. It is my understanding it is within a person's own home, but that is a matter for a different Minister and I am engaging with him in relation that. On the meetings, I have already met Childminding Ireland through the stakeholder forum and provider forum but I will be engaging with it on a one-to-one basis as part of the review.