Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

-----we are providing in the context of the employment wage subsidy scheme, in respect of which, as the Senator knows, I was able to negotiate a sector-wide exemption. The Senator is absolutely right, however, that we are not putting enough into childcare as a country. We started investing in childcare only ten years ago. Those countries that the Senator rightly makes a comparison with identified years ago, as part of their social model, the importance of childcare. That has happened only recently in Ireland. Therefore, we are running to catch up from a standing start. Previous Ministers have brought us to a position where we have €638 million. I want to ensure that future investment is giving us outcomes, those outcomes being better wages for those in the sector, affordability for parents and quality. That the expert group on the funding model will be reporting in the coming months will give us a mechanism for achieving these.