Jennifer Murnane O'Connor (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Yes, in March. I will put a proposal to the committee that we request it today and ask why it was not published because we need it to be published.

I am not sure whether it was Ms Dunne who spoke about help with mental health or counselling. We also need to look at that. It really needs to be addressed. There are many issues in the childcare and education sector that we can address. We can support the providers and help them more. Sometimes it is the small things like the paperwork, which is huge to the providers because they have to have it in order to apply for all the grants. We need to make them easier to access. There are more "i"s to dot than anything and if they are wrong they are sent back. I remember one lady told me that she missed a deadline. She had to go back and fill in the whole thing which took her another few weeks. We have to look at the system, because the Government wants to help.

I am concerned about this. I said to the Minister that although we announced in budget 2024 that the national childcare scheme subsidy rate will increase from €1.40 to €2.14, but it will not happen until September 2024.