Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)

The programme for Government commits, for the very first time, to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned childcare facilities to create additional capacities in areas where unmet need exists. I attended the launch of a childcare needs analysis in Boyle, County Roscommon, last Friday. Their analysis concludes that, in the Boyle catchment area, there are 20 childcare places per 1,043 children. A figure of 77% of children aged zero to four years have no access to a childcare place. For me, this is the definition of "unmet need". I understand some scoping work has been done by the Department to identify need and capacity issues. I ask that the commitment in the programme for Government to provide such investment be made available now where need is shown and proven already rather than taking the time to do the scoping. Where need is already identified, could that investment be released?

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