asked the Minister for Health the reasons for the delay in publishing the final report of the Task Force on Child Care and in introducing a new Children's Bill.

As the Deputy is aware, the issues being examined by the Task Force on Child Care Services are some of the most contentious in the field of social and public administration. I understand that the task force are in their final stages of deliberation. I will continue to provide every support possible to the task force to facilitate the publication of their report at the earliest possible date.

In view of the importance of developing our child care services and in anticipation of the report of the task force and the legislation likely to arise from it, I have just established within my Department, a special child care division. The Minister for State for my Department, Deputy Nolan, will be taking a particular interest in this work.

I can assure the Deputy that there will be no delay in introducing necessary legislative changes following the publication of the report.

Will the Minister tell the House if the task force have indicated when they expect to issue a final report?

One of the first things I did on becoming Minister for Health and Social Welfare was to communicate with the task force and to ask them to treat this as a matter of great urgency. I am glad to say they did this and they expect the report will be available relatively soon.