Dr. Naomi Feely:

I will make a brief point about budget 2026. We are still analysing a lot of the figures, but one thing that is clear is that we have not seen an increase in the threshold for the national childcare scheme. When the scheme was introduced and the threshold was set, it was €26,000. In our pre-budget submission, we proposed that it be raised to €33,000. Those figures are not arbitrary; they are based on the poverty line calculated by Ms Rogers and her colleagues in Social Justice Ireland. We need to see an increase year on year because we see an increase in the national minimum wage. Therefore, we are faced with a situation where parents are not getting the same level of subsidy as they got when the threshold was set.