Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am not stopping the Minister because I am next but time is up. We are now moving to myself as the last speaker and we will then do a second round. I have really enjoyed all the lively discussion so far.

In my area of Mayo, as I am sure it is with every area, childcare is an issue. It is especially an issue if we look at west Mayo and the likes of Westport, Newport, Louisburgh and villages close to that. I recently met with a packed meeting of parents and 56 took one survey, and 40 took another survey. There were mothers, fathers and grandparents all struggling to access childcare - access was the main challenge. I really want to thank the Minister's assistant secretary, Anne-Marie Brooks, and her team who were helpful to me last week in providing targeted support. I would love to think outside the box on what we can do.

If we look at the building blocks scheme in this area of Mayo, only one facility applied for the building blocks scheme. How do we support more facilities in pinchpoints to apply for that scheme if there will be a further tranche of funding in the coming months? If we look at the State-led response, if any pilots are to happen in the coming years I would like to put that area forward because one of the big barriers we are finding is a place to house the facility. It is very difficult to rent or buy any property there. If you are talking about a council purchasing or renting a building, we are actually twinned with another town in eastern Europe that has done that in a fantastic way. I would love to show the Minister the brochure for that.

There is only one registered childminder in those three towns. The parents in that area are not actually accessing that NCS funding. I spoke with some of the private childminders privately, who are nearly afraid to go to the briefings because they are afraid they will potentially bump into Revenue or different things. Could we maybe find other pathways for them to get the information so they do not leave the area of childminding before they have to be registered in 2027, which is a real risk in this area?

The last point on this is what the Minister touched on earlier about the planning regulations surrounding the 75 houses. In big cities like Dublin and Cork where there are big estates being built, that 75-house or 75-unit rule comes into play but if you look in this area, there might be one estate built with 30 houses, another with 20 and another with 50. We should look outside the box in terms of a cumulative build-up of houses in an area and then there is a requirement for facilities to be put in. I would love the Minister's thoughts on those issues.