Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)

I want to raise the early years sector with the Taoiseach today. Much has been made of the Government's failure to live up to its pre-election promises in this area. I want to focus on a specific area, that is, the community not-for-profit and voluntary sector for early years. In the wider Fingal area there are 291 early years service providers but only 16, or 5%, of them are from the community not-for-profit sector, with 95% being for profit. This is the youngest and fastest growing county in the country. It is leaving families being ripped off with high prices for early years. Will the Government commit to a policy whereby the preferred model for early years crèches, which are being built on public land or being run from public buildings, would be a voluntary, not-for-profit or community childcare facility?

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