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

The Deputy has raised this with me consistently over the past year. I am delighted to be able to say that earlier this week I announced pillar 2 of Building Blocks - the capacity grants. These are capital grants available to childcare providers, as the Deputy says, in the community and private sectors, to increase their capacity and grow the number of children they can provide services to. Some €15 million will be available in 2024 and a further €20 million will be available in 2025, or €35 million across those two years.

This will be very important in addressing issues of under-capacity. We know that there is a lack of capacity in certain parts of the country. The allocation for 2024 was announced recently. Services will be able to make applications and support them in the context of the work that we are doing, particularly by examining those areas of the country where there is undersupply.

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