New regulations for childcare services due to come into force next September do not sufficiently address key issues such as the quality of care and the role of carers in assisting the development of children, a conference will hear today. Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent, reports.
The Government has said the new childcare regulations are aimed at improving quality of care and place a greater focus on child development.
Demand for childcare services is reaching record levels with increasing numbers of parents in the workforce and a total of just over 112,000 children in the State aged between three and four.
However, solicitor and child law expert Geoffrey Shannon will tell a conference organised by the Irish Preschool Playgroups Association (IPPA) that while significant progress has been made in addressing the quality of childcare, new regulations focus mainly on environmental and safety concerns.
He said the lack of a national register of childcarers meant parents would not be able to check the credentials of services caring for their children.
The regulations also stipulate that a childcare service should include a "sufficient number of suitable and competent" adults, but Mr Shannon said these terms were not defined in any detail.
While there is a guideline in the regulations that states that 50 per cent of staff should have some form of professional qualification, this was not mandatory.
"Considerable progress has been made with Minister for Children Brian Lenihan putting childcare on the national agenda, with a number of very significant initiatives. These include the national childcare investment programme, which is expected to yield an extra 50,000 childcare places by 2010 and the early childcare supplement for children under six," Mr Shannon said.
"However, regulations relating to staffing are aspirational. We should really be moving in the direction of mandatory qualifications. Future regulations of the childcare sector must include a requirement which addresses the standard of training and the setting down of minimum education standards for staff working within a variety of childcare services," he said, speaking ahead of today's conference.
The IPPA says community-based play groups have a key role to play in meeting the country's childcare needs. However, it has warned that more support is needed to allow these services enhance the quality of the services they offer.
Their call is backed up by new research commissioned from the Children's Research Centre in Trinity College Dublin, which says this model of care provides an affordable, responsive, socially inclusive resource to the community.
However, it warns that practical barriers, such as keeping services affordable, threaten to undermine the contribution of community play groups to community development and social inclusion.
Irene Gunning, the IPPA's chief executive, said: "Our members are facing increased costs every month which have to be either absorbed or passed on to parents. We actually run the risk of allowing market conditions to determine whether children benefit from early education or not - which is simply not acceptable and we need more investment and recognition."