Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy very much. He referenced two key things in his presentation: accessibility and availability of places, and the cost for parents. We are very conscious of accessibility and availability. There are increases in terms of availability but by no means is there a sufficiency. That has been outlined by many Deputies in the House. The programme for Government also commits to the State intervening, where necessary, to provide State-led facilities and we will do that. An early scoping exercise is being done to provide for that. I have already referenced the poll of parents. Obviously, there is engagement with childcare providers. That will be a very important step forward to meet what the Deputy has referred to as the availability aspect of it. In terms of affordability for parents, there has been a substantial decrease in the cost for parents by the previous Government. Notwithstanding that, there is a huge body of work that remains to be done. We are committing to the €200 payment, and early scoping work is already being done in that regard.

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