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

I thank the Deputy. We held the early years forum yesterday where we had people from groups representing childcare providers, childcare professionals and many others working in the sector. It was a really positive meeting. We discussed core funding, the scale of the investment the Government has added and the changes we made in year 2. The Deputy is right that one size does not fit all.

That is why we created a dedicated payment in year 2just for those small services, those early childhood care and education, ECCE, only services, which is what we were able to do with the extra money we got invested in year 2. We will continue to provide support to all services large and small. I call on those services that are considering a closure next week, however. I do not believe it is warranted. We have secured major investment up to this point. We want to continue that investment. I ask all groups in the sector to work with me and my Department so we can bring though those reforms and continue this investment.

See this speech in context