Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The Minister's commitment to the sector will be judged on two measures, namely, the conditions experienced by those working in it and the costs borne by those people bringing their children to childcare facilities. Neither of those two areas has seen any improvement since this Government took office or since those thousands of people came onto the streets two years ago. We must, therefore, speed this process up, and one of my questions specifically focuses on when the Minister is going to publish and outline the new core funding model. Childcare facilities are businesses, and they are also responsible for the care of our young children. In some cases, those are vulnerable young children. Those facilities cannot just turn on a switch in June and change their entire model. The Minister indicated that he has specific funding available in the context of staff and conditions for this year and next year. If it is possible to outline what the funding is going to be, surely then there must also be some idea of when that is going to be rolled out and what it will mean. When will the Minister release the details, including a breakdown, of all the new aspects of the core funding model to enable those people managing and operating childcare facilities to start planning for this new model?

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