Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important issue. He is right that this was a big part of the general election. We all put forward our stalls on it. There was almost political unanimity around the figure of €200 per month per child. We certainly had it in our manifesto and our colleagues in government did too. It is also in the programme for Government. I always say to people at every opportunity that these are commitments in terms of projects we will get delivered over the lifetime of the Government. We all want to see progress made as quickly as possible. The Minister, Deputy Foley, is working her way through 21 commitments on childcare in the programme for Government. That gives the Deputy an indication of the priority - 21 specific commitments. She will produce an action plan that will go to the Government on childcare. We will have to decide the sequencing in a logical way in terms of capacity, fees and the impact of a reduction on one in terms of capacity and the likes. I expect around budget time that we will have greater clarity on the next steps. I know this is a hugely important issue for so many people.

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