Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)

Is it envisaged that the review will form part of action plan? I am looking forward to that action plan because to address any of the issues in childcare, whether that be affordability or availability, we have to address all the issues in childcare, such as infrastructure, staff and retention and funding models. Does the Minister agree? Some of our small providers are struggling with core funding. I wish to give one example. A service opened in 2004 and it is a Montessori and after school. In those 20 years, she raised the fee twice. Each time it was less than 5%. She applied for a fee adjustment because she is desperate to keep her service open and stay in core funding. She was permitted to increase her full-time monthly fee by €4.40. She is still €100 under the county average while the two nearest services can charge €250 and €300 more per month because they were established after her. How does the Minister envisage addressing sustainability issues and an equity between services through the action plan? We want to keep trusted services that have been operating for 20 years open.

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