Early Childhood Care and Education

Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire Stáit. I want to begin by welcoming the announcement of the first State-led early learning and childcare capital projects, including the proposed new facility in Raphoe Community Playgroup in my constituency of Donegal. It is an area I campaigned on for quite a while and one my party leader visited at the very start. It is very welcome news for those families, the staff and the wider community in Raphoe who have done tremendous work in securing this facility. I know what staff had to go through there and how hard they have had to fight since their building was condemned due to the presence of defective concrete blocks back in June 2024. What this does is demonstrate that the State recognises that, where a community childcare facility cannot have a sustainable future in its existing building, there needs to be a pathway for a new facility. That goes to the core of the issue because that announcement also raises an important question for other childcare services that have defective block buildings across my county and elsewhere. It is believed that there are up to 20 of those buildings. The question they ask is why they are not included. I want to raise again on the floor of the Dáil one of those facilities that I have raised numerous times, namely, Ardara Community Childcare. It is one of those services that has defective blocks. The service continues to operate from a building affected by defective concrete blocks. I visited the Ardara Community Childcare building with Councillor Brian Carr. I have seen the building and I have seen the cracks in it, and I have to say that it is very worrying for everybody - staff, parents and, I am sure, the children. Every year, it must undergo an engineer's inspection to establish whether the building remains safe to operate from. Given that fact, would it really have been that difficult for the Government to extend the list from seven projects to eight? At present, the building remains safe but it is deteriorating year on year and that leaves staff and families in an unacceptable position of uncertainty. This is not a small childcare facility. Ardara Community Childcare can cater for up to 100 children, providing services for babies right up to toddlers, through to full daycare and preschool, and right through to after-school provision. It does all of the services. It employs up to 20 staff. The future of this building is not simply a question of bricks and mortar. It is about the future of an essential community service. It is about the childcare places available to families and the jobs that depend on those places. It is also a service delivering at an exceptionally high level and high standard. It has received an excellent rating across all four areas of the departmental inspection, yet despite this quality of service, its future remains uncertain because of the building from which it operates. The management of Ardara Community Childcare has welcomed the announcement regarding Raphoe, as we all have. It is delighted that those children, families and staff now have a pathway forward, but it has also asked a very reasonable question about what is to come of Ardara Community Childcare. Where are the assurances that its future is going to be safe as well? We understand that there are 20 childcare facilities across the State affected by deleterious materials. How many of those facilities has the Department identified? What assessment has been made of their buildings and their long-term viability? Most importantly, what is the pathway for those services? We cannot wait until another building reaches a point where it is no longer safe and is condemned to operate before we begin discussing its replacement. By then, the children and families could be left without childcare places and staff could be left without jobs. The State has now established a mechanism through which it can provide new permanent childcare facilities. I ask the Minister of State to ensure that Ardara Community Childcare and other community buildings affected by defective concrete plots are firmly on the agenda for the next cohort of State-led projects and that that cohort of projects be brought forward without delay.

I thank Deputy Doherty for raising this issue. I am taking this Topical Issue on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Norma Foley. At the outset, I welcome the Deputy's welcome in regard to the community childcare facilities. I congratulate his constituents in Raphoe Community Playgroup. I hope this marks progress for them. In relation to Ardara Community Childcare, I understand that this plays an important role in the community. The Deputy has outlined that up to 100 children, ranging from access to early years and early childhood care and education, ECCE, all the way to afterschool benefit from this community service. Ultimately, community childcare services are vital supports for children and families, particularly in rural areas where childcare options can be limited. They provide not only early learning and care opportunities for young people but also enable parents and guardians to participate in employment, education and training. I fully appreciate the concern and uncertainty that the defective concrete blocks issue has created for the children attending the service, their families, staff and board of management. This is a very difficult situation for them. I know the Deputy has given a figure of up to 20 services in a similar situation. As the Deputy will be aware, the defective concrete blocks issue is a wider Government matter. Responsibility for defective concrete blocks remediation and capital reconstruction rests primarily with other Government Departments and local authorities, including, in the Deputy's case, Donegal County Council. The Department of Children, Disability and Equality does not have direct responsibility for structural remediation works or compensation arrangements relating to buildings affected by defective concrete blocks. However, the Department is committed to supporting the continuity of childcare provision wherever that is possible. Through Pobal and the network of city and county childcare committees, a range of case management and sustainability supports is available to services experiencing significant operational challenges. These supports are designed to help services remain viable and continue to provide much-needed childcare places for their communities. I understand that the board of Ardara Community Childcare has been in contact with Donegal county childcare committee. I welcome that engagement and can assure the House that Donegal County childcare committee will continue to work closely with the service, with Pobal and with officials in the Department to explore the options available within the Department's remit. Where services are required to relocate due to exceptional circumstances, including issues arising from defective concrete blocks, sustainability supports may be considered following an assessment of the service's needs. There are precedents for such supports being provided to services facing similar challenges. Above all, the Minister’s and the Department's priority is to ensure that children and families experience as little disruption as possible. For example, I refer to the service being unable to operate from its current premises. I know the Deputy mentioned that it gets its inspections every year and it is not currently in that situation. However, if it was to find itself in that situation, I reaffirm that every support will be made available on the continuity of provision, either through relocation solutions or, where necessary, through the identification of suitable alternative childcare places. While responsibility for remediation and reconstruction lies elsewhere, I can assure the Deputy that the Department will continue to engage constructively with all relevant parties to support the continued delivery of childcare services for the children and their families in Ardara.

I thank the Minister of State for her response but the problem is that it does not really cut it with the community in Raphoe. I think the Minister of State appreciates that. In one way, this is kind of simple. This is a community childcare facility. The building is going to fall down. We have all accepted that. We know that with defective blocks. It has been tested and it is going to fall down. It is going to become unsafe. There are 100 kids and 20 staff in it. There are no other services for childcare in the vicinity. There is now a scheme for State-led childcare facilities. Raphoe has benefited from that, which is brilliant because Raphoe is in the same position as Ardara. Ardara needs to be given a pathway. They need to put out of their misery. I understand schemes are not developed across Departments in regard to defective blocks but, for God's sake, how many years have passed since this issue has come to attention? I put it to the Tánaiste, Deputy Simon Harris, last year that we needed an all-of-government approach in relation to this, not just in regard to childcare but also education. He accepted that, in fairness. We have a situation where this facility is waiting on engineer's report after engineer's report. An engineer's report is going to say, just as it did in Raphoe, that you cannot have children in this building. The problem is that there is no other building or suitable site around Ardara. That is big issue for them. It is not like Raphoe, where they were able to move. They do not know what the future holds for them. The parents do not know what it means for the 100 children and none of this is the fault of the management. I ask the Minister of State to do what is now a very sensible thing. There is a scheme in regard to State-built capital childcare facilities. It is a no-brainer that buildings which are community-owned and which are going to fall down get onto that scheme at some stage and that we give them a pathway so they can plan for what that looks like. Will it be one or two years or whatever? Where is the temporary accommodation in the meantime? That is really the plea. I genuinely think we will get there because the consequences of not getting there, and of that building being unsafe and those 100 families having nowhere else to go, is too big. I ask for a bit of forward planning. I am raising this again today-----

-----so that the Department goes away, looks at this and builds on what we have done in Raphoe, which has been really positive.

I thank the Deputy. He has been very specific in his ask. He asked that the State-led community childcare scheme be extended and that is the intention of Government. He has also asked that Ardara be considered in the next round. I cannot pre-empt what the decision may be on applications but what I can say is that those applications come from county and city childcare committees. The fact that Donegal county childcare committee is in touch and doing such collaborative work with the childcare organisation in Ardara is a really encouraging sign. I would certainly encourage the Donegal county childcare committee to put in an application when the next round opens, specifically for Ardara. I would be happy to bring that particular application to the Minister's attention, given the extenuating circumstances.

I appreciate that. I thank the Minister of State.