THE CHIEF-DESIGNATE of the Child and Family Agency Gordon Jeyes has said he will prioritise the introduction of a “significant registration fee” for all early childhood services.
Writing in today’s Irish Times, he said such services should not be solely dependent on taxpayers and that childcare centres making money should be contributing to the regulation and improvement of a sector in which they have “insufficiently invested”.
The money would be put towards funding training and extra services.
In the opinion piece, entitled ‘How I plan to reform our deficient childcare system’, he promised to put all reports online as they are completed and create a “clear national picture” with the last 18 months of inspections.
He described himself as “impatient” to get these actions underway.
“To date the predominant motivation in the development of childcare services has not been the social good but rather the economic necessities for parents, for the home and for employment,” he wrote.
The Child and Family Agency is expected to be established within weeks.
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