Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for her response. I will begin by welcoming that there is now only one entry point in the second year of the ECCE scheme. I also welcome the expansion of the second year of the ECCE scheme. Does the Minister understand where my question is coming from? It is based on a parliamentary question I put to the Department in recent weeks. The reply said there was a shortage of 17,677 spaces, if one was to look at the capacity issue. Of those, six are in the commuter belt of Dublin, which means there is a capacity issue of 8,000 spaces. The highest is in Cork county where there is a shortage of 2,260 spaces. I find it hard to believe 20,000 of those have either started school or are only taking up an ECCE scheme space for one year. What will the Minister put in place to address areas where there will be a genuine shortage of spaces? Are new grants being introduced to expand the number of ECCE spaces or to support crèches to run a model in the morning and a model in the afternoon? If there needs to be expansion in Meath, Dublin or Cork, will there be capital funding to support it?

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