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

The Government is committed to continuing to reduce the costs of childcare. We have taken important measures in this year's budget to provide core funding to childcare providers to enable them to better pay their staff, so we can get that quality and we can retain staff in the sector. In exchange for that, we will get the fee-freeze mechanism, which will be the first time in the State we have ever had such a mechanism. We have brought in some other changes in this year's budget including the extension of the universal payment and the removal of the wraparound hours for children in services in areas of disadvantage. The key technique we have now is the national childcare scheme. There is a strong commitment, which is shared across all parties in government, that we will continue to extend out and invest significantly in the scheme. This will make a real difference in affordability for parents.

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