Keira Keogh (Mayo, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. We will move to my own slot now. Before I ask questions, I want everybody to be aware that we need to be careful when talking about specific cases that everything is in the public domain. I think we are all right for now, but as we go forward, I ask that we pay close attention to that for the rest of the meeting.

I thank Ms Ward for her contributions so far. I echo my colleagues' remarks on her opening statement being so thorough. It gave us good reading. One thing I was happy to hear today is that the hot school meals have been making an impact. They have received a lot of negative press recently, and they definitely need to improve in terms of options and nutrition, but if one child or two children in a class are getting a hot meal that day, maybe those who have enough hot meals at home might be more mindful of that. I raise the statistics of the increase of children going into child poverty. We are a very proud nation. One's neighbour or best friend might be close to poverty and may not even want to talk about the fact that they are happy that the children are getting fed in schools. As a society, we need to be more mindful of that.

I will go back to the model of childcare and the need for accessing early childcare. We want accessible and affordable childcare to be capped at €200 per month. One of my bugbears is that the planning regulations specify that 75 units should be built before a setting where childcare can go in. In small towns, there may be 20, 30 or 50 units, but that cumulative point is not reached. If we were to change the planning regulations, that might need to go to a county council to buy or lease a building. I know a city called Valek in eastern Europe which has a fantastic model. They built a beautiful facility and are subletting it for 15 years. What are Ms Ward's thoughts on those planning regulations with regard to the units and what developers put in? Maybe a facility will not have a baby sleep room or things such as that.