The Department of Children and Youth Affairs launched a six-week public consultation on the draft childminding action plan at the end of last August. The plan aims to improve childminding in this State, which has been largely unregulated up until now. Estimates for the number of childminders in Ireland vary, from the Department's figure of 19,000 to the 35,000 suggested by the Central Statistics Office. However, as few as 120 childminders are currently registered with Tusla. There is a long road to go to regularise this sector.

The way in which the Government has proceeded with this plan is causing concern to the many thousands of people involved in childminding. Members across the House will have received serious representations from people worried about their future. Despite the draft plan's allowance of up to five years for preparation and transition, childminders are concerned that these changes are going ahead without any real understanding or response to the concerns they have vocalised. Some childminders could be driven out of this important sector by heavy-handed regulation, which would, in turn, affect thousands of parents who rely on the current childminding arrangements to go to work every day. According to the Government's plan, legislation will be implemented over the course of the next five years which would require childminders to gain formal qualifications and be Garda vetted. Their homes would also have to be inspected to ensure they meet certain requirements. In principle, these are sensible proposals, but there is a risk that they will be implemented in a heavy-handed way. I am hearing that concern across the country from those providing this essential service.

Officials have admitted that childminders must sign up to strict standards of care or face prosecution. While Garda vetting is clearly essential, is it really necessary for every childminder to attain a level 5 qualification in order to continue operating?

It is crazy stuff.

Providing a safe and caring environment for children does not necessarily require that level of formal qualification. Many individuals who are currently involved in childminding never had the opportunity to attain third level education. They rightly consider this requirement to be extraordinarily onerous. Childminders are also concerned about the level of inspections of their family homes these new regulations may entail. While health and safety issues are of great importance, there needs to be greater recognition that childminding is an activity carried out in the private space of people's homes rather than in any formal or structured business setting. Will the Government provide a credit or part-credit towards the required qualifications in recognition of the existing professional childminding experience of those who have been doing this for years? Will the Government put limits on the range of official bodies that will have the right to inspect the private homes of individuals involved in childminding, as well as the frequency of such visits? Will it be explained to them how this process is going to happen? Does the Government intend for childminders to be prosecuted for simple non-compliance? The Taoiseach should be aware that these are real concerns that need to be assuaged.

I spent some of the morning in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs with the Minister, Deputy Zappone, where I had the privilege of formally launching the national childcare scheme, which is now operating. More than 15,000 families have already qualified for the national childcare scheme.

It is a big step forward in terms of the Government's policy in this area, which is to make life easier for families, to build a society with children and families at the centre and to improve work-life balance. It builds on what we have done in terms of two years of the early childhood care and education programme, paid parental leave, extended unpaid parental leave, paternity benefit and now the new national childcare scheme, which will increase childcare subsidies for tens of thousands of families across Ireland. For the first time, some middle-income families that did not qualify for any subsidies will now qualify. If we have the opportunity to build on that over the next five years, that is exactly what we are going to do.

The Deputy raised an important question on childminding. Notwithstanding the fact that I spent the morning on this issue, I did not have a chance to speak to the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs about it. I acknowledge that for many families, this is how they provide for childcare for themselves. It is often an individual in the community who the family knows who takes their child for a few hours-----

Grandparents.

-----or somebody who looks after a few children in his or her house after school or an au pair. We do not want to over-regulate, undermine or get rid of that system because if we did, it would be a disaster. Tens of thousands of people would find that they did not have any way to look after their children and might have to leave the workplace. This would then make it harder for them to pay the rent or mortgage so we definitely do not want to over-regulate or be too heavy-handed in any reforms we introduce in this area. At the same time, we need to put children first and we cannot ignore the fact that some children are being minded in homes that are not very safe and they could get injured. There are health and safety issues in those houses that are providing informal childcare at the moment.

We must also bear in mind that some people who are childminders have a bad record when it comes to how they deal with children, as we learned to our detriment when it came to foster parents in the past-----

They were supposed to be regulated.

-----and we need to make sure we do not make those mistakes again. This is a work in progress. We all acknowledge that we need to get the balance right in protecting children but also making sure we do not close down an entire informal sector of childminding that has generally served us well so we will try to get it right.

I welcome what the Taoiseach said. If it migrates into actual policy in the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, it will address some of the real concerns but the concerns are real. People involved in what is regarded as informal childminding are concerned that they will simply be put out of business. Families are concerned that the arrangements they have had for years with wonderful people will no longer be viable, so we need to be very clear about this. I have a particular concern about the proposal in the Government's draft childminding action plan to give a role to what are called "centre-based services". It seems to imply that centres such as crèches and professional preschools could be given a role to co-ordinate childminding. This is causing concern, particularly when we consider some of the difficulties those professional childcare facilities have caused in recent times. Will the Taoiseach undertake to have that discussion with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs and open a channel of communication with childminders so that we can all be in a position to assure people that facilities, which are up to standard and provide quality childminding, will not be put at risk by some new bureaucratic and intrusive regime that nobody wants?

I will do that. I have been very engaged with the Minister in the past couple of days but it has been mainly around making sure the national childcare scheme was successfully launched, which it has, and is working, and issues relating to Tuam. The Deputy knows that yesterday, the Minister published the heads of the Bill that will allow us to carry out excavations, not just at Tuam but potentially at some other sites as well. Because of that, I have not had a chance to speak to the Minister for a few weeks about this issue but I acknowledge that it is important and that it is causing some concern so I will definitely take it up with her during the week.