Brian Leddin (Limerick City, Green Party)
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20. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the most recent data on childcare closures and new openings; if he has data on expansions and on the number of new childcare spaces that have been created; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38749/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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All Early Years services are required by law to register with Tusla. Registered providers are required to notify Tusla in writing of the closure of a service not later than 28 days after the closure. The register is updated monthly, in arrears, by Tusla.

In total, at the end of August 2024 there was a combined number of 5,043 preschool and stand-alone school-age childcare (SAC) services registered with Tusla.

Every year it is normal for some services to open and for some services to close.

The latest data on new service registrations and service closures, drawn from the Tusla register, at end August 2024 shows a five-year low in the number of net preschool service closures. There have been 12 net closures from January to August in 2024 compared to 38 net closures in 2023 in the same period last year.

The figures also show a five-year high in the number of preschool service openings. There have been 64 new services opened in the period from January to August 2024, compared to 48 in 2023, 33 in 2022, 44 in 2021, and 53 in 2020 for the same time period.

Overall, there has been a net increase of 161 in the overall number of preschool and school age childcare services year to date.

Data from Annual Early Years Sector Profile Survey showed that, between 2021/22 and 2022/23, the estimated number of enrolments in services rose by 8% from 197,210 to 213,154.

Administrative data from Core Funding Partner Services showed a similar increase in staffed capacity of services between May 2023 and Mat 2024. This increase is driven both by new services joining the sector and existing services offering more places and/or longer hours to families.