Michael Fitzmaurice warns regulations pushed childminders out

First of all, I think we have created, our government has created the perfect storm. You go back and Ireland has basically plighted itself on making sure that there was more jobs and that is a great thing. We always and should always encourage or give equality that people, regardless whether a man or woman gets jobs and Ireland has gone, people are working, a lot of people are working and that is a great thing. But then I remember when my kids were growing up, we were able to go over the road to the local, a person that we call the childminder. They might have reared seven or eight of their own, they treated them like a mother and their husbands would treat them like a father, our kids when they were going there. They could be dropped off every morning, picked up in the evening, they were fed, they were kept, they were saved. But of course, we decided to ban new regulations under Roderick O'Gorman a few years ago and most of them have left the market, that is the facts. And the stats will tell you, they are not going back. So that is one part of it. The second part is that it is incredible the work that is done with creches around the country. There is a big problem, first of all for babies, the ratio that could be needed, I do not know, but a lot of creches do not want to take the real young babies for the simple reason, the money out of it and the ratio that you have to do is a problem. If we do not address that, that is getting worse and worse. The other thing is to make sure that the workers in creches get a proper wage. We have a community creche in Glensk, Koshlan-Oar and I would ask you sometime, you might Google it up, Minister. We are abroad in the middle of the countryside, we have a pub, a shop and a church and a community centre and we built a creche years ago. There were 48 kids in the local school and because of the service and the foresight that people have done, they have I think something like 85 or 90 children now in the creche. The school has gone up to 88 or 90. The people are coming from a full area round about. And do you know our biggest problem now, ironically enough, you can be a victim of your own success. With the planning that went into it, with the great staff, with the management, with the community behind it, then we decided we would do after school and we got a minibus and we picked them up and they get a lunch and they do their homework and they are ready to go nearly to bed when they go home or look at television or whatever they want. With that service, more and more people came from different areas round about. This is out in the middle of the countryside. What has happened now is we have a community centre and you have to make sure that you facilitate children. We had a third of the community centre get it sorted out because of after school, because there are more and more kids doing that. That is a great story to read and look at. Now they have to expand more. And we are out in the sticks, I would call it. But they are coming from a huge area because Pyrton's vote with their feet, they look to wherever there is a service that you can cater for and they cater for babies, they cater from right up to going to school and when they are in school and they bring them home. And they come from say 5 to 10 miles radius around to this and it is a massive, massive service. It is a community crash, not for profit or anything like that. But the problem and what we need to do is we need to make sure that we make it affordable. I am disappointed with, and look at it, it wasn't in your time Minister, but Minister O'Gorman, I begged him at the time because there are great people out there that mind a couple of kids in the house and you have to go through such rigmarole now to go out of it. I feel sorry about that because it is like, Anthony, it is like being ambitious. Don't ever worry about the person that is ambitious beside you. You need everyone to be doing a bit to cater for everything that is going on. I am not going to do all the work in the world or someone else's or Ken Corlow is at lorries. She is not going to do it. Everyone is going to, everyone, there is always enough for everyone. But what I would ask you Minister is to try and make it as affordable as possible. And the grants that is there, I know that there is pressure in around cities and large towns. I understand that. But think also, you know, just look up that story of Koshlanore and Lins. Think of that small rural, that crèche in a rural area where you would say, oh, well, there is nothing going on here. And to see the amount of children and how they are booked out now, miles ahead, and there is a wait for places and they want to get bigger. So when funding comes that the likes of them are catered for as well out in the countryside. Like in the meantime, valuable advice. Now, everyone is going to see those dogs and care. Have to be a good opportunity for us, visit!!!!! And We'll see. Thank you. Bye. Bye. Just tell us. Bye bye bye. Bye bye bye. Bye bye bye. Bye. Bye bye.