Kathleen Funchion urges Budget 2024 action for disadvantaged children

Thanks, Minister. This question is in relation to the steps for Budget 2024 to address disadvantaged children in early years, given the significant levels of child poverty being experienced. It is 92, so it is a good bit down on your list, I would say. Thank you, Deputy. I am committed to tackling disadvantaged through high quality early learning and childcare. That is affordable and accessible. And in line with the commitment in First Five and informed by recommendations in partnership for the public good, officials in my department are currently tailoring a policy response in order to progress the development of a new strand of funding, the equal participation model. And through this work, services will be provided with a proportionate mix of universal and targeted supports to support children and families accessing their services who are experiencing this advantage. Following a detailed scoping phase, the consultation phase took place from December 2022 to May 2023. And this phase included semi-structured interviews, thematic workshops, both in-person and online, focus groups and online surveys as well. So non-government organisations representing different cohorts that the equal participation model aims to reach. For example, the traveller in Roma communities, homeless persons, refugees, migrants, lone parents, they were all engaged with during that process, as well as early learning and childcare providers, educators, practitioners and their representative bodies. Traveller, refugee and migrant parents, parents with a disability, parents of a child with a disability and one-parent families, as I say, were engaged in that process. So that policy is currently being drafted and it is something that I think will be of real benefit. We are going to learn from AIM, the access and inclusion model, that really good mix of universal but also targeted supports as well. In terms of other measures which we have undertaken, obviously the pilot of the provision of hot meals is currently underway. And I think that's completed now and is being evaluated. And as you know, early on in my term of office, we removed the wraparound hours. And, you know, that was something I'd always recognised after you flagged up with me fairly early on. The practice of the wraparound hours and the impact that was happening, particularly maybe on traveller children attending after school programmes. And we put in the finance earlier on to remove that. But I think the access, sorry, the equal participation model is something that will be really exciting. And, as I say, we're working on developing that policy at the moment. Thanks, Ciancora. Yeah, no, I actually wanted to raise the – I suppose school meals is the wrong word because it's kind of preschool. But I wanted to raise that because I've actually had really, really good feedback in relation to that. And I was wondering, is that something that's potentially going to continue? You know, I know it's a pilot scheme, but it really was successful. In relation to the policy that you have referenced and that being drafted, is that something that you would envisage for the budget or is it longer term? I suppose it's when we look at the area of poverty and particularly child poverty, anything that we can do to assist children and assist families. And again, the hours, I know we had a lot of back and forth in relation to that over the years, but that was a really welcome change because that was significant for families who, you know, maybe on the face of it, like sometimes we all fall into the category of thinking of the early years as childcare, we're thinking of getting to work. But there is so many advantages for children and particularly for children who maybe are coming from very vulnerable situations. So that was welcome. But I did want to specifically ask about that preschool meal, I suppose. Thanks very much, Deputy. Well, look, there's a very significant number of issues that I'd like to advance in this year's budget. We've spoken about some of them already, cutting costs for all parents, bringing child minders in, so those parents can benefit from the NCS in extending aim so more children with a disability can access more hours in early learning and care. The equal participation model, we have to, I suppose, see where that is in terms of its development. The meals in preschool settings, that's something I'd like to extend as well. But there's a lot of demands in this sector, and this is only one part of our very broad department. So, look, it's a bit early in the process, but look, I'm looking to advance meaningful measures. And in particular, you would know that Taoiseach highlighted the issue of child poverty. It's an issue of real importance to all three parties across the coalition. And certainly the equal participation model is something designed very specifically to tackle child poverty. Thanks very much. So, just, I suppose, if it's early in the process, that gives us the opportunity to keep asking. You know, asking early and asking often. So, you know, that could be, that's good to know. But I do want to welcome that. I also actually want to specifically reference child minders coming into the scheme. I think that's going to be welcome in general. A huge amount of people rely on child minders. Not everyone, you know, particularly a lot of us that are in this chamber have the 9 to 5 Monday to Friday type rule, and you really rely heavily on child minders. But I also think that is actually going to be particularly significant for people in a disadvantaged situation. Because often sometimes it is a child minder that you're relying on, someone that you maybe developed a relationship with, or kind of that bond of trust. And because they fall outside of the scheme at the moment, you know, it's not necessarily a benefit. I came across a situation recently of a single parent who was struggling to find a place, and would have qualified for all the schemes, could get a child minder, but wouldn't have been able to afford that. So there's good examples of where it can be of benefit. I see I'm out of time and we're under time pressure, so I'll leave it at that. Thanks very much. And myself, Minister Rabbit, will adopt your mantra of ask early, ask often. And in all our engagements with the Minister for Public Expenditure over the next... The answer area that... You're absolutely right in terms of child minders, and that's something I'm very conscious of. I'm conscious there are thousands of parents around the country who rely on child minders, and they weren't able to get the benefit of the very significant cuts we were able to bring in in the cost of childcare for parents using centre-based childcare. I'm also very conscious that some child minders are concerned about the process, because it will involve a degree of regulation, and that has to be the case if you're going to get a significant state subsidy, there has to be a regulation. What I've always said is it will be appropriate regulation. It will be designed for child minders who will recognise that the child minders are in a very different situation to centre-based childcare. But I want to create appropriate regulation that they will feel comfortable signing up to, and thus allowing their parents benefit from it. So I think, that they are in Australia, and primarily, that they are having to help. And then they're in Australia and in Australia. And they're in Australia. So, we're not involved in this organisation. So, I don't know why I'm going to be... I don't know why I'm noticing that a man was not that. What I didn't mean to call the man for for children. I have to ensure that they were going to do this.