Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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39. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth whether an up-to-date audit of the gaps in childcare provision is being planned to inform future capital provision in the sector; and how he hopes to attract new entrants to the sector. [39117/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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My Department is progressing a range of actions to ensure the supply of early learning and childcare meets demand, with work in this area led by a Supply Management Unit that I established earlier this year.

A key part of the Supply Management Unit’s remit is to develop a better understanding of the nature of supply and how it relates to demand and to develop policy to support the delivery of more early learning and childcare places in the parts of the country where they are most needed.

This unit is currently developing a forward planning model which will 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.

The Unit will also lead on the delivery of the Building Blocks capital funding schemes. The primary focus of the Building Blocks Schemes, funded under the NDP, is to increase capacity in the 1-3 year old, pre-ECCE, age range for full day care. The scheme is open to Core Funding Partner Services only. Appraisal of applications for this scheme will consider the supply and demand in the area around the proposed projects and seeks to prioritise funding for areas with the biggest supply/demand mismatch.

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. A Working Group is in place between these Departments, and an invitation has been issued to the Department of Education to be represented on this group as well. The group will develop data and evidence bases, review existing policy and implementation measures, and support co-operation and collaboration. An important component of this work will be the development and dissemination of a DHLGH-initiated survey of planning authorities on the application of the 2001 Planning Guidelines.

My Department does not have capital funding available in 2024 or 2025, to assist with the establishment of new services.