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

I thank the Deputy. The expert group reported in December. We are now implementing its findings. The first part of that is the substantial additional allocation of funding this year of €69 million. That is the first step towards that, but there are other elements in terms of introducing a DEIS-type model for childcare and broadening out the national childcare scheme, NCS. We took a small step in that in this year's budget. In next year's budget, budget 2023, we will seek to invest considerably more in the NCS, which will also reduce costs for parents.

The Deputy rightly put the focus on childcare professionals, and there is a lot to be done in that regard. However, we also need to reduce costs for parents. I think everybody agrees on that point. Getting back to the issue of providers, the Deputy is right that we have not supported childcare professionals enough in the past. However, we have the workforce development plan and we have funding to support improved rates of pay through the JLC. Childcare providers will also benefit from the new sick pay scheme introduced by the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Therefore, very significant advances to support childcare professionals are being made.

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