Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Investment in early learning and childcare is now at unprecedented levels with public funding exceeding €1.37 billion in 2025, clearly demonstrating the Government’s commitment to this area. As well as addressing affordability, this investment has served to improve accessibility, availability and the quality of provision. The new programme for Government provides the impetus now to go much further and to deliver more high-quality early learning and childcare places at a cost that is affordable to families. Under this Government, the recently established supply management unit in the Department will be resourced and transformed into a forward planning and delivery unit to identify areas of need and better forecast demand.

Government is also committing this unit to introduce an element of public provision, as I referred to previously, with State-led facilities to add capacity in conjunction with capacity provided by private operators. As a key first step, the unit will work to identify the type and number of local places across the country and how that compares with the numbers of children in the corresponding age groups. A poll is nearing completion. It is being analysed and I hope to have awareness of that by the end of March or some time in April. Taking a more strategic approach to forward planning and the option of public delivery offers much greater scope to influence the type and amount of places available and to better align with families’ needs. This is a key concern for Government, that we are meeting the needs of parents. The scoping work being done to determine those needs will be very helpful in this respect. Record numbers are now benefiting from the national childcare scheme. A total of 220,000 children benefited from a subsidy under the scheme in 2024, with families using 45 hours receiving almost €100 per week. Fee controls, in place in almost 93% of services as a result of the core funding scheme, ensure the investment is not unnecessarily absorbed by fee increases. I am committed within the lifetime of the Government to continuing to improve affordability and reach the €200 per month target set. Further progress on affordability cannot be made in isolation, however, and must be integrated with our efforts to improve access, availability and quality.

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