Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Affordable and high-quality childcare is an absolute priority for me and my Department. We have gone to great lengths throughout the pandemic to keep services open across the country. In the lockdown in January, we kept services open for the most vulnerable children and the children of essential workers. We also made it clear that we will be increasing the level of investment in childcare up to 2028, under the First 5 programme. We have to know how we can target that money and we have to understand how it and the additional investment the State is making will secure affordability for parents. That is what the expert group on the funding model has been working on. It will be bringing forward its proposals in its final report in November of this year but, as I said to Deputy Funchion, we will be considering some of its initial proposals in respect of the budget allocation this year. Additional investment from the State will be predicated on guarantees from providers on a set of issues, including affordability and fees.

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