Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

1240. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total number of services providing a baby room for babies aged 0-1, by county; the number of baby rooms available in each county in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30384/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The Early Learning and Childcare sector is diverse, and the application for Core Funding is built to flex to this diversity. The application is dynamic and allows an individual service to input their capacity in the most logical way for their service. This makes it difficult to isolate a room that is explicitly a “Baby Room”.

Instead, the table below outlines the number of services who have listed capacity for children under the age of 1 on their Core Funding application. This information is only available for services who were signed up to Core Funding at the time of data capture, which is currently 92% of the State funded sector.

These data are a snapshot of a point in time and, except for 2022, reflect a time in the programme year where there are minimal changes to how a service operates and peak numbers of services engaging in Core Funding to provide the highest coverage possible of services caring for children under the age of 1.

The December 2022 and May 2023 figures relate to the first year of Core Funding. Changes between these two dates do not necessarily imply an increase in the number of services offering capacity to children under the age of 1, as uptake of the scheme continued to increase throughout the year and the increased numbers could be reflective of increased uptake. 2024 figures relate to the second year of Core Funding, the 2023/2024 programme year. 2025 figures relate to the third year of Core Funding which is currently ongoing, the 2024/2025 programme year.

Core Funding began in September 2022, and therefore data from May are not available. Instead, data from December 2022 which would have been the highest coverage within Core Funding in 2022 are included.

As the figures only capture services participating in Core Funding, in a very small number of cases a service may have been removed from the count below due to a decision to leave the scheme and continue to offer capacity for children under the age of 1 outside of Core Funding and the benefits it offers to providers and families alike.

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 19% from two years previously. 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.

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.

My Department funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees, which provide support and assist families and early learning and childcare providers. The network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees can assist in identifying vacant places in services for children and families who need them and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

1241. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of community childcare facilities who have entered the sector in each of the past five years, by county; and the number of community childcare providers who have left the sector in each of the past five years, by Local Authority; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30385/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Over the course of 5 calendar years, 2020 – 2025, the total number of community service providers that have entered the sector is 114. Over the same period, the total number of community service providers that have left the sector is 113.

The first of the two tables provides the number of community service providers that have entered the sector over the last 5 calendar years (2020 – 2025) broken down by county. The second of the two tables provides the number of community services that have left the sector over the last 5 calendar years broken down by county.

The figures within the tables below do not include service providers that opened or closed due to a change of circumstances, i.e. change of address, change of ownership, change of legal structure or Local Authority regulatory compliance, as these are not considered ‘true’ openings or closures and therefore are not included.

Table 1. Opened community services by county division 2020 - 2025

Table 2. Closed community services by county division 2020 - 2025