Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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353. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth how the National Development Plan can be improved to ensure additional funding is allocated to childcare development, owing to the lack of spaces, unmanageable costs and inadequate salary levels facing the sector and parents; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28092/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government. The National Development Plan identifies access to quality early learning and childcare as a component of National Strategic Objective 10.

Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2023/24 shows that the estimated number of enrolments increased by approximately 19% from the 2021/22 programme year. Core Funding application data shows that between Year 1 and Year 3 of the scheme, annual place hours increased by over 15%. The Tusla register of services demonstrates a net increase in the numbers of registered early learning and childcare services in 2024. However, it appears that demand for Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare remains higher than available supply, particularly for younger children and in certain parts of the country.

Last year, a Supply Management Unit within the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Division was established, and the Programme for Government articulates an intention that the unit be resourced and transformed into a Forward Planning and Delivery Unit to identify areas of need, forecast demand, and deliver public supply within the childcare sector where required.

A forward planning model is in development which will be central to my Department's plans to achieve the policy goals set out in the Programme for Government to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system, with State-led facilities adding capacity.

The Programme for Government commits for the first time to provide capital investment to build or purchase state-owned early learning and childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. State ownership of facilities is a a very substantial and significant development and offers the potential for much greater scope to influence the nature and volume of provision available and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand.

Some early scoping work has been carried out to explore options to introduce a segment of public provision. This will require much more detailed and extensive policy development and design in order progress to implementation stage, having regard to the wider emerging policy context as set out in the Programme for Government.

This work will form part of my Department’s contribution to the review of the National Development Plan. My officials and I will continue to engage with colleagues across Government on the review.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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354. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the measures being taken to promote greater flexibility in crèche drop-off policies, in view of concerns that rigid enforcement of arrival times, such as refusing entry for minor delays despite prior communication places undue pressure on working parents and fails to accommodate the realities of family life; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27748/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As Early learning and childcare providers are private entities and set their own admissions policies, my Department does not have influence in this regard. Drop-off policies and admissions more broadly are issues that are negotiated between the parent and provider.

I would note that the development of guidance on admissions policies is committed to in the Equal Start model. This guidance will support an inclusive approach to admissions in early learning and childcare services.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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355. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will examine recent childcare increases of 40% in a Dublin creche (details supplied); the action she is taking to ensure childcare costs are brought down; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27756/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Up to now, services availing of Core Funding have not been allowed to raise their fees above what was charged to parents on 30 September 2021 (or at the point of first signing up for Core Funding if the service did not exist on 30 September 2021).

In August 2024 the Fee Increase Assessment process opened, whereby Core Funding Partner Services who were charging fees below the county average were eligible to apply to increase their fees.

This process was introduced to ensure that services who have fees which may not be sustainable are given the opportunity to apply for a fee increase. This process closed for applications on 29 November 2024.

Only services charging low fees (fees below the average in their county) were eligible to apply.

The Fee Increase Assessment process had to balance the need of parents for stability with their early learning and childcare costs and the need for providers to operate viable businesses in order to continue providing this Public Good service for their community.

My Department placed limits on the scale of any approved increase to ensure services could continue to operate with protections in place for parents/guardians. The maximum allowable increase was capped at the equivalent increase in the NCS subsidy from September 2024 (74c per hour, up to a maximum of €33.30 per week for 45 hours of care or more per week).

To ensure the needs of parents/guardians and providers were balanced, the onus was on the service to demonstrate a real need for a fee increase. Permission to increase fees in this controlled and limited manner was only granted where a service had proven that such an increase was needed to be able to continue to offer these services in their area.

Although parents/guardians may not have seen a decrease in childcare costs compared to the last programme year, these limits were intended to ensure that the majority of families would not see an increase.

This service has been approved for an increase and the Department issued an approval letter on 14 January 2025.

This letter included the new maximum fee which can be charged by the service and the date this new fee can be implemented from. The letter highlights the following.

• The service must show this letter to parents/guardians before any fee increase takes place.
• A Partner Service will have to update the Partner Service Parent Statement.
• The Partner Service Parent Statement must be circulated to parents within 10 working days of the sanctioned detailed fee increases being provided to parents.