Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy highlights the point that not all families will receive subsidies. This, in itself, will be a factor that child care providers must take into account when setting their fees and in deciding to raise or not raise the fees.

The Deputy spoke of the numbers of families who may not benefit right away in September because we not have the full affordable child care scheme that we had hoped and intended to have by then. We are estimating that it is possible that up to 9,000 children and their families may not be eligible for some subsidy this September, but these are families who are really closest to the threshold of the affordable child care scheme. It is, however, an estimate because it is impacted by fees and whether or not families choose to engage in the use of child care providers who are registered so they can access the subsidies. It must be stressed that the potential number of children and families in this regard is an estimate and we cannot be more precise in advance. We will monitor that, as I have indicated, for any possible chance of increase in fees.

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