Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his reply and compliment him on the work he has been doing over the past two and a half years in expanding the range of supports available for childcare. Thankfully, the public finances are in a very healthy state today due to policies that have been implemented over many years in building an enterprise economy and growing our exports. At this particular time, more and more funding should be devoted to the provision of more and upgraded childcare accommodation. We all know that the greatest resource we have as a country is our young people. We have to ensure that every child, regardless of where he or she comes from or lives, has access to a modern childcare facility.

I mentioned to the Minister previously that there are a number of groups in my constituency where, thankfully, the numbers have overgrown their existing childcare facilities. However, additional capacity is needed. We are talking about extremely large-scale funding. I remember very well from my time in the Department and as a public representative over many years that were it not for the community childcare provision, there would be many areas, particularly rural ones, where we would not have childcare provision.

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