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

First, to Deputy Smith, there is a real sense of urgency on the issue of capacity. It is now the big challenge. The big challenge has moved from affordability because we and I, as Minister, acted over a number of budgets to deal with that issue and we have made significant progress. We have a plan. We have capital funding and engagement with other Departments on removing the mechanisms. The situation where someone potentially has to give up work because of not being able to access childcare is serious and that is what we are trying to work to address by providing additional capacity. One of the challenges of reducing the price was that more people took up childcare. That has put greater pressure on the system and we have to act to respond to that.

Where planning is granted and includes a childcare service, that is a matter of enforcement if it is not being done. We want to work with local authorities to make sure the regulations are as clear as possible so that there is no wriggle room if a developer does not want to build it. I heard what Deputies O'Sullivan and Gould said. We are working to see whether we can create a capital fund about sustainability to support existing services that are under pressure because of the age of their buildings. That is as much as I can say on that today, but I am aware of the particular circumstance of that facility.

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