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

For the second year of core funding, which kicks in in September, I was delighted to be able to secure an additional €28 million. That is an 11% growth year on year to support providers, which is very significant. The Deputy is right. In this year's budget we have many goals we want to achieve. We want to keep core funding growing. We really want to cut fees for parents again. We recognise that despite the progress we made this year, fees are still too high so we want to grow the NCS. We want to bring childminders into the NCS because there is a group of parents who were excluded from the benefits of the scheme. That involves childminders being regulated appropriately. It would not be the same regulations that apply to a Montessori or a large chain but appropriate regulation. Another thing that I and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, are passionate about is the access and inclusion model and ensuring that children with a disability can get the full benefit of the ECCE programme and, indeed, beyond that. We want to grow the access and inclusion model so more children can get the benefits of early learning and the benefits their families get from that as well.

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