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

I believe that budget 2018 marks another substantial further step forward in supporting families with young children. In recent years, I have secured significant additional investment in the early years sector, focusing investment on different but critical elements of early years care and education. The new measures announced in budget 2018 form part of a trend in continued growth and investment. In budget 2017, I secured a 35% increase in child care funding, following a similar 35% increase in budget 2016.

There has been an increase of 87% in early years funding since 2015. Despite this, Ireland will require many years of significant investment in child care to catch up with our OECD counterparts. The increase in targeted subsidies introduced last month does, however, represent a major step towards accessible, affordable, quality child care. These increases reflect my ambition to support the provision of quality child care services with appropriately supported and qualified staff.

The increases in the targeted schemes introduced last month are considerable, up to 50%. This will significantly decrease the amount of co-payment required of low income families or parents in education or training. Some families will benefit from as much as €7,500 per child per year. I also introduced a universal subsidy worth up to €1,040 per year. This subsidy is aimed at children not yet in the free preschool programme.

I have used budget 2018 to deliver fully on the commitment in the programme for Government regarding early childhood care and education, ECCE, and to increase investment to support the quality of services.

All of these changes are points towards our goal to deliver affordable, accessible, quality child care.

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