Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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There is not a week that goes by that I am not contacted by a parent seeking access to childcare. On Monday, 1,500 new childcare places were announced nationally, funded under the national development plan's building blocks extension grant scheme. These places, at a cost of €25 million, include 18 much-needed places in Dublin West. This Government is delivering but it needs to keep delivering. Given the scale of unmet need, 18 places are a drop in the ocean. The programme for Government commits to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned childcare facilities. To do that at scale and to achieve value for money, I believe we need a new State building scheme specifically for childcare, something that does for childcare facilities what design and build has done for school buildings.

The private sector has played a vital role for years in delivering childcare in our communities but reliance on the private sector alone will never deliver the capacity we need for children's early learning and to enable parents, primarily women, to stay in work. A sum of €45 million has been allocated under the NDP for additional capacity in childcare over the last three years. The education capital budget for 2025 alone was €1.4 billion. That is €45 million versus €1,400 million. If we are serious about changing the delivery of childcare places for local communities, our ambition should be reflected in the upcoming review of the national development plan.

We have a model for building childcare facilities already, but it is not working. Under planning authority guidelines for childcare facilities from 2001, 20 childcare places should be delivered for every 75 new dwellings but that scale of delivery is not happening because developers are allowed to claim that a new facility is not required, even in areas of overwhelming need such as Dublin West, or a developer is only required to provide a shell of a building, often resulting in buildings that are not fit for purpose or are hopelessly expensive and regular childcare providers cannot purchase them.

Some of them have lain empty for years in my constituency even though providers are crying out for space. Those guidelines fall across the two Departments of housing and children. We were previously promised a review and we are still waiting. The longer we wait, the more we miss out on the delivery of new childcare facilities in line with the delivery of new housing.

Will the Taoiseach give an update on these interlinked issues, the review of local guidelines, Government plans for State-led childcare and the potential for a new State building scheme for children, parents and the economy?

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this crucial issue. Investment in childcare has quadrupled since 2015 from €260 million to close to €1.4 billion in 2025. Last year alone, funding went up by 26%, or €261 million. Childcare costs meanwhile have dropped by more than 38% since early 2023. The last Government did a significant amount of work. I acknowledge Deputy O'Gorman is in the Chamber. He worked with all three parties and made it a priority and that yielded results. Enrolments in early learning care increased by 19% between 2021 and 2024. That is from 197,000 to approximately 234,000. There was a net gain of 226 childcare services in 2024. That is a six year low in closures. Staff numbers are up 8%. The national childcare scheme provider participation is up 136% since May 2022 with children benefiting enormously as a result. The national childcare scheme now supports approximately 220,000 children, with €530 million in funding and the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme offers two free pre-school years, covering 107,000 children.

I will expand on the access and inclusion model, AIM. More than 9,000 children with disabilities now have access to the ECCE scheme and broader early learning childcare services. The Equal Start programme supports children facing disadvantage through 770 priority services nationwide and core funding has increased. The two employment regulation orders introduced in 2022 and 2024 were breakthroughs as regards boosting wages, but we need to do more in that area.

For the first time, the programme for Government commits to the public model of childcare and a strong foundation was put in place over the past five years. There is an existing funding programme through the national childcare scheme and core funding on which to build the next phase of reform. Work will be needed in the Department to detail extensive policy development and design to progress to implementation stage. A lot of work is needed to map out how we do that in terms of the public building programme for early education and making sure it synergises and harmonises with the existing provision.

The 2001 planning guidelines need to be reviewed. The Department of children is engaging with the Department of housing to examine and review those planning guidelines for local authorities on early learning and childcare settings. A working group is in operation between the two Departments. That is an important piece of work that is required-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----to ensure stronger provision.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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I am the first to say there has been progress, but serious issues remain with capacity, access and core funding that need to be fixed. Today, I am hosting local childcare providers and parents in the audiovisual room. We will focus on a payscale that reflects qualifications and expertise, pressures they are facing with recruitment, making core funding work, especially for small providers and how paperwork and bureaucracy are suffocating the sector. There are major holes for parents and providers in the fee adjustment that was introduced last year. I refer to the local independent provider who has not raised her fees in eight years and is struggling to survive and who was granted an increase of just €4 per month when others in the area charge €200 to €300 more, and to the parent who was on enhanced subsidies, not universal subsidies, whose fees were increased overall last year.

The programme for Government recognises these challenges-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----as has the Taoiseach when I have raised them, but they want to hear from the Government about now-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Deputy.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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-----not just about the future. They want to get back to building partnerships, starting with really listening.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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First, I have to say very strongly that it is one thing to say we acknowledge it. We need to more than acknowledge it. There has been a significant step change in investment in childcare in the past four years. That will continue as regards the level of it. The State funds nearly 40% of all early learning and care of school-age childcare places across multiple funding rounds. Last year, the supply and management unit was established to have a forward planning and delivery unit to assess demand, plan better and expand public supply. The new planning model also draws on expertise in the Central Statistics Office, early learning and childcare specialists and geographic information system, GIS, mapping to predict the future need for childcare. That all needs to happen and investment needs to be parallel with the planning framework that is being designed. The key issues will be how we sustain and retain people in early childcare in the future-----

Verona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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Thank you, Taoiseach.

Micheál Martin (Cork South-Central, Fianna Fail)
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-----and the employment regulation is key to that.