Anne Rabbitte (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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464. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the position regarding the independent review of the cost of delivering quality childcare; the date by which she anticipates this review being published; and if she will publish this review upon its completion. [52705/17]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Independent Review of the Cost of Providing Quality Childcare is a critical input to the on-going reform of childcare in Ireland and is commitment in the Programme for Government.

This review seeks to:

- Analyse the current costs of providing childcare in Ireland and factors that impact on those costs;

- Develop a model of the unit cost/costs of providing childcare that allows analysis of policy changes and variation in cost-drivers, including the potential impact of increased professionalisation; and

- Provide an objective, high level market analysis of the childcare sector in Ireland, including analysis of fee levels charged to parents.

The contract to undertake this Review was awarded to Crowe Horwath in September 2017. A literature review is currently underway and preliminary stakeholder engagement has already commenced.

These initial steps will inform subsequent steps of the review, including a survey of childcare providers in early 2018 and the development of a cost model and cost calculator.

This review is expected to take approximately 10 months to complete with the final report expected in June 2018. This report will published.