Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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547. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth what measures are being taken to increase the budget for early years and school age care, which currently stands at just 0.1% of expenditure, far below the OECD average of 0.9%; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4531/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Although investment in early learning and childcare as a % of GDP remains comparatively low by international standards, there are several important limitations to note in assessing Ireland’s early learning and childcare spend based on OECD data.

Firstly, Ireland’s calculation by the OECD excludes spending on children under 6 that are in primary school. It is also important to note that Irish GDP is seen as a poor point of international comparison. Modified GNI is recommended By the Economic Statistics Review Group as a more appropriate comparator for the Irish context.

Using 2023 GNI* figures (the most recent GNI* data available), Ireland’s planned investment of €1.37 billion in early learning and childcare is equal to approximately 0.5% of GNI*. Investment of 1% of GNI* would equal €2.91 billion which would require an additional investment of €1.54 billion.

The investment level this year by Government represents a 114% increase since 2021 alone.

As well as addressing affordability, this investment has served to improve accessibility, availability and the quality of provision.

The ECCE programme, which provides two years of pre-school without charge, enjoys participation rates of 96% each year. Over 70% of families on low income report that they would not be able to send their child to pre-school without this programme.

The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) complements the ECCE programme, providing subsidies – both universal and targeted - to reduce the costs to parents for children to participate in early learning and childcare.

The minimum NCS subsidy has steadily risen from €0.50 in 2022 to €2.14 in September 2024 alongside extensions to eligibility.

The fee management system introduced through the Core Funding Scheme has ensured that the investment in NCS has resulted in real change for parents with the cumulative reduction in out of pocket over this period estimated to be 50% on average.

Record numbers of children and their families are now benefiting from the NCS. Almost 220,000 unique children benefited from an NCS subsidy in 2024.

Government, in the new Programme for Government, has is committed to further growth in State investment in this sector and to continued reform over its term in order to make further progress in:

- reducing out of pocket costs of early learning and childcare for families; [IMAGE] ensuring that children from all backgrounds – in particular children with a disability and children experiencing disadvantage - can access and participate in high quality early learning and childcare;

- ensuring the supply of early learning childcare places meets demand;

- increasing the pay and improving the working conditions of early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners; and

- improving the quality of children’s early learning experiences.

In addition, a revised investment target was set in the second implementation plan for First 5, which was published in November 2023. This specifies that, over the period 2023-2028, Ireland will work to close the existing gap in public investment in early learning and care against the EU average.