Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I fully agree that a lot of work is being done and a lot of improvements have occurred.

The other challenge in early childcare is access to appropriate facilities. We need to work together on access to facilities, not only in the Minister's Department but also across other Government Departments. I have come across a number of areas where there is difficulty in getting access to facilities and therefore the service cannot be provided in particular areas. We need to do a lot more work on that, and especially in new housing areas where developers are slowing up in the provision of new facilities or there is no-one available to come in to provide those facilities. It is not only a staff challenge, it is also a challenge around the provision of the facilities. This will be a more difficult challenge to face due to costs increasing in recent years.

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