Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1486.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will respond to a matter raised by a person in Cork (details supplied) in relation to childcare; and if he will make a statement on the matter.[35331/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Improving access to quality and affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority of Government.

Considerable investment has taken place in recent years to improve the resourcing, quality and availability of early learning and childcare. The 2024 allocation for early learning and care was €1.109 billion, which represents an €83 million (8%) increase on the 2023 budget allocation.

My Department has in place a range of supports and funding schemes to support the delivery of early learning and childcare places but services are independently operated, either by community not-for-profit or by private for-profit providers.

This year, I established a Supply Management Unit within the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare division of my Department. A key part of the Supply Management Unit’s remit is to develop a planning function for monitoring, analysing and forecasting of the supply and demand - akin to the Forward Planning Unit in the Department of Education.

This unit is currently undertaking a forward planning project to identify the quantum and volume of different types of early learning and childcare places across the country, whether or not those places are occupied and how that aligns with the numbers of children in the corresponding age cohorts at local area level.

Data available to my Department shows that the level of capacity in the sector has risen substantially year-on-year between 2022 and 2023. However, there is also evidence that demand for places is increasing and, for certain cohorts and in certain areas, outstripping supply. This is partly driven by the significant improvements in affordability that have been achieved in recent years and I acknowledge that some families experience challenges in accessing places, particularly for younger children.

The Supply Management Unit will oversee the administration of capital investment under the National Development Plan, through the Building Blocks Capacity Grant. The primary focus of the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Schemes is to increase capacity in the 1-3 year old, pre-ECCE, age range for full day or part-time care. Appraisal of applications for this scheme considers the supply and demand in the area around the proposed projects and seeks to prioritise funding for areas with the biggest supply/demand mismatch. I hope to announce details of the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme in the coming weeks.

My Department is currently engaging with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to examine and review the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings with a view to updating them.

In addition, under the National Action Plan for Childminding, I have committed to opening up access to the National Childcare Scheme to parents who use childminders following the extension of regulation to childminders. This will increase the numbers of funded and regulated early learning and childcare places available.

Furthermore, the First 5 Strategy, a Whole-of-Government Strategy which aims to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families, has a pivotal focus on providing a broader range of options for parents to balance working and caring. The Strategy aims to support parents to be at home with their children for the whole of their first year. Research suggests that children benefit particularly from parental care in this period and the Strategy sets out this evidence in detail.

Minister Humphreys and I announced an extension of paid Parent’s Leave and Benefit to 9 weeks from 1 August 2024, delivering on commitments made in the First 5 implementation plan (2023-2025). This leave is deliberately non-transferable between parents to ensure that both parents are encouraged and supported in taking time out from work to spend time with their child.

The combined durations of Maternity, Paternity and Parent’s Leave and Benefit now equates to 46 weeks paid leave for a two-parent family. Mothers also have an entitlement to 16 weeks of Additional Maternity Leave which is unpaid. Many parents add annual leave to their family leave entitlements which allows for at least a further four weeks of paid leave per parent. Family leave provisions are kept under review to ensure that they are effective and respond to the needs of families.