As the Deputy is aware, the phase 1 report of the early years action plan, Shaping the Future, was published yesterday. It makes clear that childminding remains central to the Government's vision for the future of early learning and care and school-age childcare. The national action plan for childminding 2021-2028 sets out a pathway for the extension of regulation and supports to childminders. Implementation of that plan will continue under Shaping the Future, as I said at yesterday’s launch. The regulation of childminding services is critical to the safeguarding of children. I believe we all agree on that. The childminding-specific regulations, which came into effect in September 2024, are designed to be proportionate and appropriate to the home and family setting in which childminders work. The route to registration under the new regulations requires childminders to undertake a short pre-registration training course as well as meet certain regulatory requirements, including Garda vetting, proof of insurance, first aid certification and child safeguarding training. We are now in a three-year transition period to September 2027, during which childminders are being encouraged and supported to register but registration is not yet mandatory. This phased approach aims to facilitate the largest possible number of childminders to enter the regulated sector and sphere of quality assurance and access Government subsidies, while also recognising the time and supports required for childminders to learn about and prepare for registration. The Department has committed to undertake a review of the initial implementation of the childminding-specific regulations during the transition period. The review will include consultation with childminders and other stakeholders. It will provide an important opportunity to learn lessons from initial experiences with the regulations. As I have said previously, the review will commence in 2026. The timing of the review is crucial. In addition to hearing from childminders who have not yet registered, it is important that the review adequately captures and benefits from the experiences of those who have registered, been through the registration process and operated within the new regulations. September 2025 marked the end of the first full year since the introduction of the regulations. Those childminders who have registered need time to thoroughly test the regulations in practice. The number of childminders who have registered will impact upon the thoroughness of this testing also. We are in a three-year process from the introduction of the regulations to the end of the transition period.

Sentiment score: 0.22

I wish to be clear: childminders are an incredible resource in the entire system. I know the value of them and they are particularly important in rural areas, like my area. We want childminders to be fully engaged but we also need them to be registered because we need regulation. I think the House is unanimous on that. We are within the three-year timeframe now and I have committed to carrying out a review, which will take place in 2026. It will take place as early as I possibly can and as close to quarter 1 as possible. I know that was in the Deputy’s original question. It will be as close to that as possible. It is to give the maximum benefit to those who have registered and those who will register within that period or timeframe. I hear many of the queries the Deputy has raised. I hear them too. There will be inspections, however. While not comparing like for like, anyone who has a family property and runs a bed and breakfast is subject to inspection in order to be registered with Fáilte Ireland. Childminders will have to be subject to inspections, but I hear what the Deputy is saying when it comes to how that is managed and what form the inspection will take.

Sentiment score: 0.16

I absolutely understand the anxiety that is out there. Change is never comfortable and I absolutely accept that. I hear it myself when I engage on the ground. I absolutely accept the Deputy's bona fides in this regard too. She has raised this issue on a number of occasions. I am happy to engage further. I said I would engage prior to the review and I will do that. I will hold the review as close to quarter 1 of 2026 as I can, but I will not give a firm date because things and timeframes can change. It is my intention to do it as early as we possibly can. I want childminders to remain within the system. They are an incredibly valuable resource. Many issues have been raised. For example, the Deputy raised the issue in respect of properties and all of that. I am conscious of that, but it does not fall within my gift. Rather, it falls to the Department of housing but I am also engaging in that regard. I am conscious of the issues that are there. We will begin the review as quickly as possible. We have until 2027 for the complete registration.

Sentiment score: 0.22

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, administers funding for therapeutic and counselling supports. In 2024, Tusla’s total funding for family support service counselling was €8.375 million. A total of 90 family resource centres received €1.664 million. With regard to additional funding, in 2025 the Department secured the mainstreaming of an additional €1.5 million for counselling, psychotherapy and therapeutic services to children and young people to reduce waiting lists for community-based counselling services. This was previously funded as a pilot under the Dormant Accounts Fund in 2023 and 2024 and it is in addition to the yearly funding for family support services counselling I have already spoken about. In 2025, €292,500 of this additional €1.5 million funding was allocated to 30 family resource centres to allow them to continue their important work of providing counselling and wider therapeutic services, such as play therapy and creative arts therapy, in the community. The additional funding helps to address unmet need and reduce waiting lists for community-based counselling services. Funding for counselling services reflects the Government’s recognition of the critical work being done every day by local community-based services. I am proud to support their work and delighted that this additional investment of €1.5 million is now part of the mainstream funding provision through Tusla. This funding enables family resource centres and other family support service counselling services to provide counselling and therapeutic services at no cost or low cost for the communities they serve. In 2024, clinical and therapeutic lead posts were established in eight family resource centres around the country to ensure there is a clinical and therapeutic lead in all six Tusla regions. I understand that this initiative is working well. The focus of the role includes providing clinical leadership, ensuring that quality services are developed and adapted to meet emerging and presenting needs in the region, and monitoring clinical practice and governance standards. Funding for the clinical and therapeutic lead posts continued in 2025 and I have also secured funding for 2026. As the Deputy will be aware, the family resource centre programme has expanded from 121 to 126 members.

Sentiment score: 0.30

I wish to conclude on the point about the family resource centres first. The Deputy is correct; we are unanimous about the importance of those family resource centres and the whole myriad of services, including those the Deputy outlined, they provide. The programme has expanded from 121 to 126 members this year. The Deputy will be aware that a further ten centres will be added in 2026. I am pleased that I secured the funding for those additional ten centres in budget 2026. Mental health services are within the gift of another Department. This is just an additional support we are providing through the family resource centres. It is important that we recognise that and there is clarity around that. Mental health services fall within the remit of my colleague, the Minister of State, Deputy Mary Butler. The total allocation for mental health services for 2026 will be almost €1.6 billion. It is quite a considerable level. It is record funding, in fact. It is an increase in funding for the sixth year in a row. I wish to acknowledge the work of the Minister of State, Deputy Butler, in that regard. There are other avenues to support as well.

Sentiment score: 0.28

I appreciate the Deputy highlighting it. It is highlighted to me also as I visit the family resource centres. It is a testament to the vision of the family resource centres that they are happy to step in when there is a need within a community. They do it expertly, they do it professionally and they do it without any difficulty really. That is to their credit. They always step up. I have never made any secret of the fact that I am an enormous fan of the family resource centres. The entire budget for Tusla counselling services is over €8.3 million. The additional €1.5 million that has been mainstreamed from the Dormant Accounts Fund in 2023 and 2024 has been a great addition to us. Being able to mainstream that is an additional resource. I will continue to consult the Minister of State, Deputy Butler. She has successfully increased the budget for the entirety of mental health services for six years in a row - to over €1.6 billion now - and great credit is due to her for that. There is an opportunity for us to engage further on it.

Sentiment score: 0.32

I appreciate the Deputy raising this question. I have been informed, and it is my understanding, that the services managed by Tusla's Liberty Street House are not being curtailed. This is the information that has been given to me. Tusla is undertaking a reform programme that will continue to meet the needs of service users of Liberty Street House. The integration of services will mean that the services provided within Liberty Street House will align under the proposed structures of the front door teams. Front door teams are a feature of the new Tusla referral and service user management process that will ensure each referral is assessed and addressed by the appropriate experts. Staff will work as part of multidisciplinary teams to ensure a range of professionals with different skill sets in the area of social work and therapeutic services are available to respond to the needs of children, young people and families in the right way at the right time. The preventive aspect of work undertaken in the Liberty Street House services will align with family support and safety and welfare structures. All relevant cases in Liberty Street House services will continue to be worked on with the newly aligned networks in 2026. Liberty Street House services provide a domestic violence and abuse support service. Under the reform programme the focus will move towards the impact of domestic violence, particularly on children, bringing in expertise developed in Liberty Street House to the front door teams across networks. Equally, Liberty Street House staff who have a developed skill set in working with teenagers will continue to utilise these skills in their alignment within the front door teams. Tusla's structural reform will bring opportunities to young people and families that Liberty Street House services work with. It will also deliver an integrative response of early intervention, family support and child welfare. Liberty Street House has responded to these needs in myriad ways since it opened. I appreciate the work done by the team in Liberty Street House on behalf of the State and local government.

Sentiment score: 0.40

I appreciate the Deputy raising this. My information is that the services provided by Liberty Street House are not being curtailed. Indeed, the cases will continue right throughout 2026. The new model of practice is to ensure that all services are available through multidisciplinary teams at the time when they are needed, in the one place at the right time. I am very happy for the Deputy to bring to me any specific information that he might not be in a position to share on the floor of the House. I am very happy to look at that and revert to the Deputy. It is my understanding, as I have said, that the services are not being curtailed. The new vision of service, which I think is a good vision of service, means that when a person presents themselves there is a single opportunity for all of the different supports they might need to be made available at that time from the front door teams. The front door teams approach emphasises the notion that there is no wrong door, that there is a single point of access, and that whatever supports the person requires are presented and available to him or her at that given time.

Sentiment score: 0.35

The information that has been given to me is that all the services the Deputy has outlined, which are really important intervention services, are not being curtailed and that all cases will continue into 2026. It is a very valuable service that is being provided. It is important that whatever supports are required within the family structure for individuals, for young people or for older people are available at a given time, at the right time and in the right place. My information is that nothing is being curtailed and that everything is continuing in terms of services in 2026. If there is something different that the Deputy wants to bring to me, I will be more than happy - sincerely - to engage further with him on the matter. I will happily do that with the Deputy at the beginning of the year if that is what he wishes.

Sentiment score: 0.47