Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)

I hear the case the Deputy makes but I am obliged to point out the improvements that have been made, which the Deputy has already articulated. Not everybody is in that space but I have to point out the increases to parent's leave and parent's benefit and all of that, although I absolutely acknowledge that does not meet the needs of every single individual. We are very conscious of the need to ensure that there is appropriate provision to meet the needs in different places across the country. Those needs are different and there are greater challenges in some areas and for some ages. In some instances, there may be issues with after-school care and, in others, it might be an issue with the very young cohort the Deputy mentions. Government is prepared to step in to support that equality of opportunity. As I made reference to earlier, there are really three aspects to this. There is the delivery of places, ensuring we have staff in place to man those places, and core funding for the providers. In terms of the delivery of places, €36 million has been made available under the capital plan this year. This will support the development of a State-led model and other models such as the Building Blocks schemes. In terms of supporting workers, €45 million was ring-fenced last year to ensure an increase in salary under the employment regulation order, ERO. Some 67% of workers benefited from that increase because of that €45 million being ring-fenced. A similar ERO will be in place for 2026. With regard to supporting providers, there is a significant increase in core funding, which will reach more than €437 million in 2026.

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