Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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I wish to focus on childcare supply in Dublin West. I will outline the reasons we need a review of section 28 of the Planning and Development Act and the ministerial guidelines from 2001, a review of the interaction between county councils and county childcare committees and radical change from the loose planning guidelines we have to deliver childcare supply in order to plan, build and open childcare facilities, especially community childcare facilities, in local communities.

Last year, I went through Fingal County Council planning permissions for the five years previous to quarter 3 of 2022. Of the 80 applications granted, 42 were amendments to existing childcare facilities, involving an increase in numbers, an extension or changes to time, while 38 were new applications. When I looked into the developments in Dublin 15 that would fall under the section 28 guidelines, I found very few that had been progressed. I found one that is under construction at Balroy House on Carpenterstown Road, another in St. Joseph's, Clonsilla, which has not been built and is now part of phase 2, and a third in the Hansfield strategic development zone. This year, I discovered there are two more. There is one for a childcare facility at Barnhill, Dublin 15, where 1,200 units were recently approved, and there has been planning approval for a childcare facility in the Blanchardstown shopping centre. As regards the childcare facilities that have been opened under what I consider the section 28 guidelines, however, I discovered only one in the past ten years, as well as another that was built but not opened for five years. There are also two in estates that have been built but not opened and in respect of which the developers have applied to change the use.

This tells me that section 28 is not working in the way it was designed to operate. The facilities are not being built. My colleague, Senator Seery Kearney, has focused on this issue in terms of the exemptions to putting them in planning but I have found that even when they are built, they are not being built as suitable premises and they are not being opened. We need a radical review of section 28 and how the guidelines are working in communities.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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I thank the Senator for raising the issue. The availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. Early learning and childcare capacity is monitored by the Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth on an ongoing basis, with a particular focus on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families. The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of the Department through the early years sector profile survey are an important data source that allow us to monitor supply and demand. In addition to the survey data, the Department relies on data from the register of services held by Tusla, as well as data provided by services as part of their application for core funding, and has conducted several surveys with parents. Since 2020, five parent surveys have been undertaken by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of the Department. Data from the most recent early years sector profile indicated that the vacancy rates among services in Dublin West was 13%, which is lower than the average vacancy rates nationally. These data do not take account of increases in capacity since the introduction of core funding.

A series of steps is being undertaken to address issues of undersupply. The network of 30 city and county childcare committees across the country is in a position to match children and families with services operating with vacant places. Moreover, these committees engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need. Under the national action plan for childminding and following the extension of regulations to childminders, there is a commitment to open access to the national childcare scheme to parents who use childminders. Some €70 million has been allocated to the Department through the revised national development plan, with the majority of this funding earmarked for new places.

The Department, in partnership with the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government, is in the process of updating the 2001 planning guidelines for local authorities on early learning and childcare settings. As part of this work, the Department has been included in the updated list of prescribed bodies that need to be notified on certain planning matters, including the formulation of county development plans and local area plans. In addition, core funding introduced in September 2022 has already proven to be effective in expanding capacity, particularly in areas of undersupply, with initial analysis showing that there has been a significant growth in capacity, including for cohorts such as babies and toddlers, and in areas where there has been significant pressure on places, including Dublin West. Additional funding secured in budget 2023 for year 2 of core funding provides further opportunity to invest in capacity growth.Parents experiencing difficulty with early learning and childcare needs should contact their local city and county childcare committee for assistance. Contact details can be found on myccc.ie.

Emer Currie (Fine Gael)
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Parents will tell you again and again that supply is a major issue across Dublin 15. The Minister of State knows that. I have reached out to some of the childcare committees to see what is happening and what interaction there is. My feedback from that is that it is not consistent. Some committees are working closer with planning officials than others. If we are to address undersupply, we need those structures to be working. I do not think they are working in the way that they need to in order to deliver. We are using section 28 facilities to help with supply but, as Senator Seery Kearney and I have shown, there are exemptions. I am saying that when they are built, they are not being opened. We have an opportunity here. There are section 28 facilities when we should be planning for childcare facilities. Not only that, but they need to be in appropriate buildings. They need to be planned that way as appropriate buildings.

As is the case with Part V properties, we have an opportunity to step in, take ownership of these facilities, open them up as community childcare centres and deliver for people. We need to look at a review of the community childcare committees and how they interact with county development plans. We need a review of section 28 facilities to actually deliver in people's communities. We need to take that deliberate and essential step into actually purchasing the social and community childcare infrastructure in people's communities so that we deliver not just the subsidies, which are great, but the places. That is what people really need now as well as subsidies.

Joe O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Green Party)
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The Government, the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, and I understand the challenges faced by parents in Fingal county. There is a clear need. It is one of the counties with the lowest vacancies rates in the country. I checked this before I came in. Interestingly and usefully, a data collection exercise on the early years sector will start tomorrow. Pobal will lead that. It will give us a more up-to-date sense of what is happening on the ground. There are clearly still issues in west Dublin and beyond. The updated data we will gather will inform the design of the €45 million building blocks capacity grant for 2024 to 2025. This is a practical measure that will facilitate increased physical space, which is a limitation for many bodies. I will bring the section 28 issue that the Senator raised directly back to the Minister. She raised various issues. We will look forward to the engagement between local authorities and the formulation of county development plans and local area plans.