Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

We have seen a big debate in recent weeks on the funding of childcare places. There is a realisation that a one-size-fits-all solution does not fit for every circumstance. One area that is of real concern to me is childcare services that operate in disadvantaged areas and have a very high number of sponsored places. Some 30%, 40% or 50% of their places could be on the sponsored place scheme. There are no parents' fees to top that up. Many of those are in my area, including Our Nursery in Ballymun. People from that service contacted me as they are worried about its financial viability. They do not want to cap the number of sponsored places. They exist to try to meet that need for young people. They want the Department to tailor the sponsored place scheme to reflect the cost of providing those sponsored places.

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