Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Core funding is worth up to €221 million to the sector. Obviously there are implications in terms of affordability and so forth. Last year, we allocated very substantial funds specifically for staffing, training and to create career pathways within the early childhood sector. In work under way within the Government legislation committee, GLC, this year the Government has signalled that it wants to deal more substantially with the affordability issue and the cost-of-living issue, and also ensuring that while doing that, the capacity of the providers to provide services in a sustainable way is not just maintained but is ensured for the future. There has been a great deal of progress over the years in early childhood care. We have come from a situation where it was never a State system to start with, so there are multiple providers, community-based and private. They work through the various schemes. We have to improve it and the Government has identified childcare as a key issue for the next budget.

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