Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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3. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on key commitments made in the programme for Government on early years and, specifically, the commitment to undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed action plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system with State-led facilities adding capacity, as well as a review of core funding; a timeframe for both; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49874/25]

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I ask the Minister about a number of key commitments in relation to childcare in early years in the programme for Government, specifically the broad consultation, the detailed action plan to ensure accessible, affordable, high-quality childcare and also the review of core funding. I ask her to provide us with any timeframe in relation to any of those three key commitments. Within the broad action plan is also the use of State-led facilities for the first time, which is really welcome.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for her continued engagement on these matters. As she is aware, the programme for Government commits to "undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system".

Given the need to make progress as soon as possible while also allowing time for a broad consultation process, I intend to publish the action plan in two phases. This autumn I will publish phase 1 of the action plan, which will be short-term actions for 2026 and which will reflect the budget made available through the Estimates process for 2026. I will publish phase 2 actions after completion of the consultation process, which the Deputy referred to. That consultation process will commence in the coming months.

Of course, we have not waited until publication of the action plan to start the important work we need to do in this area. The Deputy will be aware that the maximum fee caps were extended to all partner services in core funding this month. The introduction of fee caps is an important step towards the reduction of parental fees to €200 per month over the lifetime of the Government.

While the maximum fee caps were introduced for new services last year, they now cover all services that are in core funding. In addition, the new fee caps are set at a lower level than before. The maximum fee for a full-day place of between 40 and 50 hours per week is €295 per week before Department subsidies under the national childcare scheme and the ECCE programme are deducted.

For those in the minimum level of subsidy, this will bring their out-of-pocket costs down to less than €200 per week, with those on income-assessed subsidies paying less. While this is a helpful development for those paying the highest fees, it is important to note that with a median fee of €200 per week nationally, this results in many paying just €100 after the minimum subsidies are deducted. This latest measure builds on a range of supports already in place. The ECCE programme provides two years of preschool without charge and has participation rates of 96% to 97%.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I want to come back to the State-led facilities, which is a significant move. The Minister talked about looking at areas of unmet need.

I understand some scoping was carried out within the Minister’s Department in terms of where that unmet need is. To provide one example, which I have given here before, an analysis was carried out with the family resource centre in Boyle, County Roscommon. That analysis found that there are 20 childcare places per 1,043 children for Boyle and its catchment area. A total of 77% of children aged between zero and four years of age have no access to a childcare place. They would have liked, through the building blocks scheme, to purchase an existing building in the town. The limitations of the building blocks scheme - we have discussed this before - in that it applies to existing providers and to purchasing or building new premises only, are locking out a lot when it comes to building capacity. There are fine buildings in towns like Boyle that could be used for a service rather than lying derelict. Will the Minister look at the building blocks scheme and its limitations?

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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That €25 million investment under the building blocks scheme has and will provide for an additional 1,500 additional places, which are obviously much needed and a positive step forward. It is important, however, that we take the opportunity to review an existing programme every year. I am absolutely committed to reviewing existing measures and adding new measures.

Deputy Kerrane referenced the State-led facilities, which are a new innovation and a positive step forward to facilitate those. There is a forward planning unit within the Department which will be focused on looking at areas where there are specific challenges. The Deputy has consistently referenced one such area in her constituency. There are other areas throughout the country where there are significant challenges regarding childcare provision. I have always been very clear that it is the determination of the Government to support existing providers through mechanisms like the building blocks scheme and, where that is not possible and the State needs to step in, the State will step in. We will use the information from the forward planning unit to make those decisions.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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I appreciate the decision has not been made yet, but does the Minister envisage using the building blocks scheme to build capacity and allow a new group that has come together, particularly groups of parents, to purchase an existing building? It is a win-win then. A new premise is not necessarily needed in Boyle. There is an ideal premises in the town that is well located and perfect for its use, but they are not in a position to buy it. I am sure in all of our counties and towns we can point to buildings that would be great to see in use again where there is so much need. There are only 20 childcare places per 1,043 children in Boyle. The service is just not there for parents and they are under an awful lot of pressure.

Lastly, with regard to the review of core funding, core funding has been a game-changer for a lot of providers. It has saved a lot of them from closing their doors, but there appear to be issues for some providers. It is reasonable to ask that the review of core funding take place sooner rather than later, given it is a lot of taxpayers’ money.

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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To reiterate, I am happy to look at any mechanism that will support the provision of additional places. I am very open to that, whatever that mechanism might be. We have opportunities to look afresh now, whether that is through mechanisms like the building blocks scheme or indeed through this new mechanism that we have through State-led facilities. Often, that does not necessarily mean building a new premise. The Deputy is quite correct; there are already existing buildings in towns and villages throughout the country.

On the issue of core funding, there is an evaluation of the first year of core funding currently under way. That review of core funding will allow us to have an evaluation framework that will facilitate ongoing reviews of each of the other years as well. It is my expectation that work will be completed before the end of the year. It will be facilitating a mechanism to allow us, on an ongoing basis, to review year-on-year core funding.