Addressing the childcare needs of modern families is one of the biggest challenges facing Minister for Children Brian Lenihan, writes Carl O'Brien, Social Affairs Correspondent
If Brian Lenihan ever needs a reminder of the enormity of the task he faces as Minister for Children, he can find it in the population census. With more than one million children, Ireland has the highest proportion of young people in the EU. Despite record numbers of women entering the workplace, Ireland continues to have the highest birth rate in the union.
The depth and scale of child-related issues are dizzying - whether it's childcare, facilities for young people, antisocial behaviour, youth justice, child protection or young asylum seekers.
Little wonder, then, that the Government moved last December to expand the position of Minister for Children, taking areas of responsibility from a range of Government departments and forming a new Office of the Minister for Children (OMC).
The driving factor behind the change was, arguably, the emergence of childcare as a major political issue over the past 12 months. It became the defining theme of the last Budget, and with Irish parents paying three times the EU average for childcare, it's likely to be a key plank in the looming general election.
Six months on from these administrative changes, the Minister says he is satisfied with the progress being made in tackling the availability and affordability of childcare. But there is still much work ahead.
Next week parents are due to receive the first instalment of the €1,000-a-year childcare supplement. Maternity leave will increase by an additional eight weeks by next year. Meanwhile, work is continuing on a €575-million five-year package to create an additional 50,000 childcare, pre-school and after-school places.
For a country with little tradition of childcare, Lenihan says, much has been done in a relatively short period. "We're avoiding the institutional approach and offering parents the choice of how they want to meet their childcare needs."
Whether it's childminding, creches or mothers choosing to stay at home, the Government is faced with ensuring there are sufficient places available, while also addressing affordability and quality of care. But this attempt to keep everyone happy has led to allegations that the Government has missed the opportunity to launch a long-term plan to create a national subsidised childcare system or free pre-school service.
Lenihan does not rule this out, however. "I would like to be in a situation where we could provide affordable childcare for everyone, but it is a step-by-step process. A good training strategy for childcare workers is essential . . . That's step one. Next, we need to identify areas without any pre-school provision and address that. And step three is universal provision of pre-school services."
He adds: "If political parties such as Labour [ which has pledged to provide a year's free pre-school if in Government] found themselves in power, their Minister for Children would learn that very quickly. There is no other way of doing it."
While much of the debate in childcare has focused on the provision of places, the next step is to focus on quality of care. Childcare inspection reports have raised a number of concerns over the conditions of creches, while international research shows the dramatic benefits of early childhood education. New childcare regulations to be published in the autumn will, for the first time, contain requirements for childcare providers on the quality of education and care provided.
It's a delicate balancing act, says Lenihan: improving standards, while not overburdening childcare providers."We are trying to ensure that we're not just investing in childcare places for our children, but also in meeting the highest standards," he adds.
To this end, he says, the regulations will focus on childcare providers complying with a national quality framework for early childhood education, which has been devised by the Centre for Early Childhood Development and Education (CECDE).
Siolta, the title of the framework, is aimed at promoting quality in education for children up to six years. Lenihan says it addresses the needs of the child, parental involvement, curriculum, professional practice and the importance of play.
On the issue of affordability, Lenihan is more coy, preferring to say it is a matter for the Minister for Finance. The Government, however, is committed to making childcare more affordable for all parents, he adds.
But the issue of childcare has taken a back-seat for the past six months. The newly elevated position of Minister for Children means Lenihan has had to battle a host of other issues, such as the debacle over the State's handling of statutory rape; the outcome of the Ferns report; the disappearance of unaccompanied asylum-seeking children from State care; and plans for antisocial behaviour orders for children.
The purpose in bringing these various responsibilities together under one roof was to maximise the co-ordination of policies for children. The breadth of issues crossing his desk is a good sign, says Lenihan, and shows that issues are now centralised under one Minister rather than spread across several departments. "Every Government proposal is child-proofed through my office and I express a view on any proposal which has implications for children," he says.
This focus on children has resulted in the creation of a youth justice service. It has given momentum to raising the age of criminal responsibility from seven to 10 for most crimes; phasing out the use of St Patrick's Institution for Young Offenders for under-18s; and promoting greater use of the rehabilitative model of child detention schools for 16 and 17-year-olds.
"I think [ the Department of] Justice realise that you have to tackle the root causes of crime. It's a big challenge, to tackle the needs of this most challenging and difficult group of children, and they've taken it on."
There are still many obstacles ahead. The dearth of facilities for young people in the community is a major issue. The involvement of children in decision-making that affects them also requires ongoing work.
For too long the needs of children have been afterthought in affairs of State. The changes within Government are helping to give children a voice, Lenihan says.
"I'm not sure you can devise a better way. The office is constructed in a way that spans the different Government departments. I know some say a separate one should have been established, but I think you lose some of the connections if you do that," he says.