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

The Deputy is absolutely right to put the focus on that issue. I set out three major areas. Core funding will be particularly important for services that are more expensive, such as baby rooms that cater for children under 12 months where the ratio, by its nature, must be higher. In the context of core funding, there is additional financial support recognising the higher cost of delivery. That will make the opening of new baby rooms more attractive to providers. Second, there is a capital investment scheme. We will announce the first part of that later this year for take-up in 2023. The first part of the scheme will focus on the expansion and renovation of existing centres and the second will focus on capital support for the building of new early learning centres. The third aspect involves looking at the planning system and ensuring that the guidelines for the delivery of early learning care are better aligned with the planning of new housing developments. I have already met with a significant number of county planners to discuss that matter.

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