Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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843. To ask the Minister for Housing, Planning, and Local Government if he will review the 2001 Guidelines for Planning Authorities on Childcare Facilities in order to address gaps in the guidelines which are leaving communities without adequate access to childcare; his views on the effectiveness of the current benchmark of 20 childcare places per 75 dwellings; if he has engaged with the Minister for Children, Disability Equality in relation to a review of the guidelines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30386/25]

James Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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The Revised National Planning Framework (NPF) was approved by Government and the Oireachtas in April 2025. The revised NPF recognises that investment in high quality, affordable early learning and childcare is critical both as an educational support for children, and as an enabler of parental labour market participation. Ensuring an appropriate supply of early learning and childcare is an important element of designing communities that meet the needs of those who live in them.

National Policy Objective 41 of the NPF in particular prioritises the alignment of targeted and planned population and employment growth with investment in a number of areas including a childcare/ECCE planning function, for monitoring, analysis and forecasting of investment needs, including identification of regional priorities; and the provision and timely delivery of childcare facilities and new and refurbished schools on well-located sites within or close to existing built-up areas, including in support of infill and brownfield development, that meet the diverse needs of local populations and act as a key enabler for housing development, thereby contributing to the development of sustainable communities.

The current Guidelines for Planning Authorities relating to Childcare Facilities were issued in 2001 by my Department under Section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000, as amended. Planning Authorities and An Bord Pleanála are required to have regard to the Guidelines in carrying out their functions under the Planning and Development Act, 2000.

The Guidelines set out a methodology for calculating an adequate provision of childcare places and are intended to ensure a consistency of approach to the treatment of applications in respect to the land use planning aspects of childcare provision, for relevant planning applicants, developers and childcare providers in formulating and considering development proposals. The Programme for Government (PfG) 2025 sets out a number of priorities for Government in relation to access to early learning and childcare services including a commitment to ‘review the 2001 Childcare Facilities Guidelines for Planning Authorities to ensure childcare spaces are provided and put to use’.

In this regard, my Department, in conjunction with the Department of Children Disability and Equality (DCDE) and the Department of Education and Youth (DEY) have established a Working Group to create a clear mechanism for information sharing and discussion between Departments in relation to current and future policy related to planning of early learning and childcare services, including examining the existing 2001 Section 28 Childcare Guidelines for Planning Authorities. Planning authorities will be asked to contribute to this process. To date, seven meetings of the Working Group have taken place over the course of 2024 and 2025, with the most recent meeting held in June 2025.

The Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE) has policy responsibility for improving access to high quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare. DCDE have established a Supply Management Unit in 2024 which is tasked with undertaking analysis of supply and demand across the country and developing policy responses where supply/demand mismatches are identified.

It should be noted that the Planning and Development Act 2024 includes provisions which will replace Section 28 Ministerial Planning Guidelines with ‘National Planning Statements’. Following commencement of the relevant part of the legislation, it is proposed to undertake a programme of review of existing Section 28 guidelines with the intention of replacing them with National Planning Statements, noting that this programme of work will be sequenced over time.