John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)

In the programme for Government, we made a commitment to reduce the cost of childcare for a child to €200 per month under the national childcare scheme. Along with hard-pressed families, I strongly welcomed this. A problem arises when providers pull out of the core funding scheme. In some cases, a provider of multiple facilities pulls one of its facilities out but keep others in for various reasons. As I have seen in my constituency, when that happens the cost of childcare can rise to up to €1,300 per month per child. It has risen to €1,256 in the case of one set of parents I am thinking of, who applied to 20 other providers seeking a place for their child. There are two issues here. First, what happens when providers pull out of the core funding scheme? When it works, it works really well and is very welcome. In more mature areas of Dublin that do not have community preschool or childcare facilities, the State need to step in, possibly through the local authorities. There is a commitment in the programme for Government to co-locate these childcare facilities. My principal question today concerns the fact that the withdrawal of childcare providers from core funding is having a severe impact. An increase of €1,200 or €1,300 per month could be used as a repayment on an extension or a down payment on a family holiday. These are the issues facing families.

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