Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I thank the Deputy for her contribution. This is an issue she has championed over the past number of years. I remember when I started in this role four years ago, we would have said the challenges were that parents are paying too much, staff are not paid enough and providers are not making a significant income from their work. Those were the big three challenges and we have done a huge amount there. In September of this year we will have cut fees for parents by 50%. Two pay agreements have been reached for childcare professionals – another one was agreed just a couple of weeks ago now. There had never been set statutory rates of pay for childcare professionals before. We have achieved two and we have increased it. We did that by using core funding to give the services significantly more money. We have done a lot to address those three challenges. They are not solved, but they are not the issues the Deputy is hearing at the doors.

We have a new challenge now, and that is capacity. One of the reasons is that we have made childcare more affordable for parents, so parents want to take it up. It is a problem caused by our successes elsewhere. Capacity is a central issue. In the next number of weeks, I will be announcing a new capital funding scheme. This is the availability of capital. Some €30 million next year can be drawn down, hopefully from very early in 2025, to support either community or private services to expand or, particularly for community services, to build completely new locations or buy locations. That will be helpful in terms of a significant new scale of investment. Obviously, it will be for the next Government to continue to ramp that up as we go along, but we will have started that work.

With regard to other pieces of work, my Department has set up a forward planning unit for early years. The Deputy knows there is one of those in the Department of Education. Schools are entirely State-funded, so the Department of Education has a bit more directive power there. However, we see the importance in my Department saying, for example, there is a real challenge in Carlow town or Blanchardstown village, talking to the local authority and asking how it will meet that challenge. Will it allow planning permission for more childcare facilities in that area? That is an important step.

Another important step is the Department of Education recently printed its new guidelines for the use of school buildings out of hours. They are much more positive, particularly towards of the use of school buildings for after school. It frustrates me - and I know it frustrates parents - to see a school empty from 3.30 p.m. until 6 p.m., when one of the rooms at least could be used by a school-aged childcare provider.

Finally, my Department is doing work with the Department of housing on planning regulations. There are requirements, particularly perhaps of some of the larger developments around Carlow, where if there are more than 75 units, a crèche is meant to be provided under the regulations, and often that does not happen, it is not built at the same time or it is half built and left there as a shell. We are making sure we convert those and make the planning regulations work to deliver new childcare facilities. As we know, under Housing for All, there will be thousands of units built all over the country in the next number of years. There should be crèches coming with those and we have to make sure those crèches are delivered – that the actual buildings are delivered.

Regarding the wider issues of core funding, remember, if we raise the fee freeze, that is an increase in costs for parents. We have to remember what the debate is. It is not a universally good thing. We have put in significant amounts of money into core funding. When I first announced core funding in 2022, it was €206 million. This year coming, €331 million will go to childcare services. That is a 15% increase on the budget last year. The budget last year was €287 million and it will be €331 million. That is a big increase going to services. Inflation this year will be 2% and they are seeing a 15% increase. That is why I am reluctant to announce any massive removal of the fee freeze. While providers are not allowed to increase their fees, we are giving them more money. The State is giving them more core funding. All providers are getting more core funding this year – every single one. We will be doing a bit of work to make sure the smallest services get a bigger increase, which is important.