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

The Deputy correctly identified the significant role of providers, many of which are small businesses run by individuals. As the Deputy stated, they are primarily led by women with a passion for providing education and care for the children and babies in their care.

While the NCS is a very good system, it has its flaws, as we discussed in the context of our debate earlier this week. We have seen in the past that where additional investment has been put into it in order to support parents by reducing fees, it has often been subsequently wiped out in the form of fee increases. In many cases, those fee increases are understandable in the context of an individual service struggling with expensive bills it has to pay or with wages it is seeking to pay its staff. Looking at all these matters in the round is important. It is an issue of investment, which is key, but so too is the additional regulation in respect of that investment.

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