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

The joined-up element is very important. The successor strategy to the Better Outcomes, Better Futures will have a significant child poverty focus within it. As a subset of this we will also have the EU child guarantee, which is guidance, support and some financial support coming from the European Union. The child guarantee and the actions we will take there will sit within the wider Better Outcomes, Better Futures work. That joined-up element is very important and this is why I am engaging very closely, in the first instance with the Minister of State, Deputy O'Brien, and then with the Ministers for Social Protection and Education and other Ministers.

The Deputy is correct regarding childcare. This is why we took steps in this year's budget with regard to the removal of the wraparound hours, which will have a major impact on children in the most disadvantaged areas. The Deputy and I, along with other Deputies, have had significant discussions on this since I came into this role. We have taken the major step whereby 5,000 children will benefit from not having the wraparound hours removed from their free childcare allocation from this spring. That is a major step forward.

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