Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The Deputy is correct. The Government has made a significant commitment to improve accessibility, availability, affordability and the quality of early learning and childcare provision. Investment in early learning and childcare is now at an unprecedented level with public funding exceeding €1.37 billion in 2025, clearly demonstrating the Government’s commitment to this area.

The programme for Government provides the impetus to go much further and to deliver much more high-quality early learning and childcare places at a cost that is affordable to families. I am committed to establishing a €200 per child per month cap on early learning and childcare costs for families within the lifetime of the Government. This work will build on the significant measures taken to date to improve affordability. The early childhood care and education programme provides two years of preschool without charge and enjoys a participation rate of 96% each year. The national childcare scheme is now worth a minimum of €96.20 per child per week for 45 hours.

This Government is also committed to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned early learning and childcare facilities to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. This would mark a very substantial and significant shift in the policy direction that the Department has pursued thus far. A forward-planning model is now in development which will be central to the Department's plans to achieve the policy goals to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare system, with State-led facilities adding capacity. Officials are currently developing a mapping tool, using administrative data on schemes and population location, to identify areas where supply and demand mismatches are greatest. A recent Ipsos poll to parents will also help inform future planning. This will enable the State to step in where it is necessary.

As the Deputy will appreciate, we are at the very early stages of the programme for Government but work is under way.

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