Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. The Government is committed to making childcare more affordable and more available, and to improving the quality of childcare and early education available to children and parents. I am happy to confirm there will be a further reduction in the cost of childcare for all parents next year. That will be in addition to the 25% average reduction that occurred last year. As is the case with any budget decision, the exact figure has yet to be agreed and cannot be agreed until budget time. I am happy to clarify there will be a further reduction in fees for parents next year. The Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, is looking at ways to extend it to childminders and other sectors as well. I am afraid it was one of those occasions where the headline and the quote did not exactly match. The Deputy's statement did not make any sense at all because it was-----

See this speech in context