TÁNAISTE MICHEÁL MARTIN has distanced himself from the Taoiseach’s ‘half-baked’ childcare plan. 

Speaking at the Fianna Fáil party think-in in Killiney, the party leader was asked about Simon Harris’s idea to have childcare as part of the publicly funded education system.   

Martin cautioned against what he dubbed “half-baked” proposals on childcare, telling reporters:

“If we just throw out ideas without any substance behind them, a lot of those providers could take flight, [they] would be extremely concerned. They have invested now in the government’s plans, they’ve invested in their facilities. A lot of community playgroups have, and they won’t want to be told, ‘Well, actually, there’s no role for you anymore, because there’s a half-baked idea about doing something in schools.’”

Harris had proposed that childcare facilities be built next to primary schools. 

Martin said the state has become more involved in childcare, adding that he does favour more state intervention in early education. 

“I think the focus should always be on the development of the child, that has to be centre stage in terms of early education and childcare. But in addition to that, there are areas where we are not as strong as we should be, and in particular, in the area of special education in the early years.

“Now, we’ve invested a lot of money in the last two to three years in terms of affordability and in terms of more places, but there are emerging difficulties in terms of some providers,” said the Tánaiste.

Department of Infrastructure 

Separately, the Tánaiste also said he did not agree with the Taoiseach’s idea for a new Department of Infrastructure.  

He called for a “comprehensive blueprint” on how the mooted department would work.

When asked if he was in agreement with the idea of the new department, he said:

I’m not actually.

He added: “What we need in terms of infrastructure is to cut through a lot of barriers that successive governments have created in respect of getting public capital programmes through. I think the situation regarding the Children’s Hospital created an over caution within the public service, within the system generally, in terms of capital projects.”

He said he believed Transport Infrastructure Ireland needed to be given “clear direction” that there would be budget allocations to build roads with no delays.

He added: “In a three-party government, compromises have to be made. I think the NDP (National Development Plan) could have been delivered faster on roads, but for policy reasons, perhaps wasn’t delivered as fast as it could have been.”

Martin said his party will now be focusing on the next four to five years and will set out an ambitious agenda for Ireland for the next five years.

He also stated the ideal date for the general election is February, saying that no by-elections will be held before the general election.

The party has selected quite a significant number of candidates, said Martin, stating that he set a deadline of the end of September for the selection of candidates to be complete.

“We have 43% women selected so far across the various constituencies, and we are regularly focusing in, from an electoral perspective, on making sure that we have the optimal teams in every single constituency across the country,” he said.