Ms Teresa Heeney:

The building blocks grant is made available to existing services. One of the concerns we have about that is that it will not address what we call childcare deserts. There are childcare deserts throughout the country. There are particular patches in Dublin, but they are in many rural areas as well. We definitely need a different model so greenfield sites can be targeted and children from vulnerable families have access to high-quality settings. The issue is that improved affordability increases demand, which is having a big impact on capacity challenges.

The other thing that is important - we feel it is a bit of an elephant in the room, and we have felt this every year for the past few budgets - relates to the announcement of an additional 1,700 SNAs. The Department of education published a report last year that told us that 38% of the SNA workforce is qualified in early years education. It is not an arbitrary statement lacking evidence that many of the people who work and train in early years education are not even working in early years education. They are going straight to work as SNAs. Many of them are well qualified and well placed, but we end up with a huge problem. They are going to SNA roles because of the terms and conditions of employment. They enjoy better terms and conditions and can have a professional life.

Affordability leads to demand and challenges in capacity, but if we do not have a ring-fenced approach to targeting areas of particular disadvantage that are childcare deserts, we will have this ongoing problem with no way to remedy it.