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

The Deputy will understand I will not give out budget secrets today. I know he and I have engaged extensively on the matter, and as I said to other Deputies earlier, my Department is currently investing €638 million in early learning and childcare, amounting to approximately 60% of the total income of the sector. Most of the rest of the income is from parental fees.

The investment of €638 million in 2020 is distinct from the funding that early learning and childcare employers can access under the employment wage subsidy scheme, EWSS. As the Deputy knows, businesses in the sector are exempt from having to prove a 30% reduction in turnover as I was able to negotiate that exemption for them. For each month during Covid-19, that exemption has represented an additional €34 million investment in the sector.

The programme for Government commits us to the First 5 strategy and commits us to the target of €1 billion being invested per year by 2028 and I have noted that for the additional public investment to work, we must have greater public management. That is why we have had the expert group researching how to link more money being invested with better outcomes for parents, children, providers and childcare professionals as well. The expert group has been researching the matter and it will bring its report to my Department in November this year and I am looking forward to receiving it. I have been engaging with the group since coming to office and I have a sense of where its recommendations will end up. The group has certainly inspired my budget bid to the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform this year.

I do not wish to speculate on the exact construction of the final recommendation from the expert group but I know it comprises national and international experts and they have very much looked around the rest of Europe and further in considering what models work to ensure public investment is combined with public management to get those really important outcomes for children.

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