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

I thank the Senator for raising this issue, which my Department and I are monitoring on an ongoing basis and through formal reviews. I have met with the Senator and services in her area and I know she is particularly engaged on this issue.

The national childcare scheme, NCS, represents the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for early learning and childcare. It marks a shift away from previous schemes, which were based on medical card and social protection entitlements, to a progressive system of universal and income-based subsidies. Under the NCS, significantly more families are eligible for support. The NCS is designed so that those on the lowest incomes receive the greatest support. It is also designed to ensure access provided is at a level necessary to support positive child development outcomes regardless of whether parents are in work. This approach is taken in other jurisdictions.

Where parents are not engaged in work or study, the NCS subsidises up to 20 hours per week. Where parents are engaged in work or study, the NCS subsidises up to 45 hours per week. The definition of work or study is broad, covering all forms of work or study arrangements - full-time, part-time, week-on, week-off, and zero-hour contracts - making the scheme as flexible as possible. Indeed, the minimum hours required to engage in work or study to qualify for enhanced hours is very low at just two hours per week. With this design feature, the NCS attempts to strike the right balance between enabling access to early learning and childcare services, given the benefits this confers on children, and supporting parents to engage in work or study, given the impact this has on alleviating the poverty that impacts so many children.

I understand there will be children in exceptional circumstances for whom these supports are not enough. This is why we have the sponsorship process. Under the sponsorship arrangements, these children's families can avail of up to 45 hours free early learning and childcare with no work or study requirements to be met. I know there were some issues in the initial roll-out of the sponsorship process. I have engaged with Tusla and some of the other sponsorship bodies. We now know that more than 2,000 children are sponsored in services throughout the country. I expect this number will continue to grow.

The NCS is designed to be dynamic and responsive to decisions of Government. The scheme has been in place for almost 22 months. This has been during Covid when everything has been so badly disrupted. My Department has engaged an external consultant to review the first year of the scheme. This includes its usage by socioeconomically disadvantaged families and providers serving socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. I specifically asked for this element to be included in the review in light of the concerns raised with me by the Senator and others over the past year. This review is almost finalised and I will be considering its findings with a view to ensuring it meets its policy objectives and functions in the best interests of families and children.

A separate but related piece of work involves the expert group that has been meeting in respect of designing a new funding model for the sector. This is due to report in November. This group has been tasked with designing mechanisms to deliver additional funding to ensure greater levels of affordability, accessibility and quality of early learning and childcare and sustainability. This is also looking at the issue referenced by the Senator, namely, the introduction of a DEIS-type model for childcare. That review will arrive in November but I am very conscious of the upcoming budget. I am aware of the high-level recommendations this review will bring forward, and I am engaging with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform. I have told it that childcare is my priority in terms of my Department's budgetary bid this year. I continue to engage with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform on the wider funding question.