Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

There is not a week that goes by that I am not contacted by a parent seeking access to childcare. On Monday, 1,500 new childcare places were announced nationally, funded under the national development plan's building blocks extension grant scheme. These places, at a cost of €25 million, include 18 much-needed places in Dublin West. This Government is delivering but it needs to keep delivering. Given the scale of unmet need, 18 places are a drop in the ocean. The programme for Government commits to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned childcare facilities. To do that at scale and to achieve value for money, I believe we need a new State building scheme specifically for childcare, something that does for childcare facilities what design and build has done for school buildings.

The private sector has played a vital role for years in delivering childcare in our communities but reliance on the private sector alone will never deliver the capacity we need for children's early learning and to enable parents, primarily women, to stay in work. A sum of €45 million has been allocated under the NDP for additional capacity in childcare over the last three years. The education capital budget for 2025 alone was €1.4 billion. That is €45 million versus €1,400 million. If we are serious about changing the delivery of childcare places for local communities, our ambition should be reflected in the upcoming review of the national development plan.

We have a model for building childcare facilities already, but it is not working. Under planning authority guidelines for childcare facilities from 2001, 20 childcare places should be delivered for every 75 new dwellings but that scale of delivery is not happening because developers are allowed to claim that a new facility is not required, even in areas of overwhelming need such as Dublin West, or a developer is only required to provide a shell of a building, often resulting in buildings that are not fit for purpose or are hopelessly expensive and regular childcare providers cannot purchase them.

Some of them have lain empty for years in my constituency even though providers are crying out for space. Those guidelines fall across the two Departments of housing and children. We were previously promised a review and we are still waiting. The longer we wait, the more we miss out on the delivery of new childcare facilities in line with the delivery of new housing.

Will the Taoiseach give an update on these interlinked issues, the review of local guidelines, Government plans for State-led childcare and the potential for a new State building scheme for children, parents and the economy?

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