John Clendennen (Offaly, Fine Gael)
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282. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her assessment of the Early Learning and Childcare Survey of Parents 2025 results; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31173/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The results from the 2025 childcare survey of parents, undertaken by Ipsos B&A on behalf of my Department, highlights the positive progress made in terms of both accessibility and awareness of both pre-school age and school going childcare for families.

91% of the 700 families with children surveyed reported that they were aware that all children aged 2 years and 8 months to 5 years and 6 months are eligible for two years free preschool under the ECCE programme. 55% reported that they were aware that families of children aged 14 and under are eligible for financial support towards the cost of childcare under the National Childcare Scheme.

Of those surveyed, 49% of parents of pre-school age children in non-parental care reported finding it easy or fairly easy to pay for childcare. This compares with data from 2023, in which 28% of parents reported that they found it easy of fairly easy. Progress has also been made for families with school going children, with 53% of parents with children in non-parental care reporting that they found it easy or fairly easy to pay for childcare. This is up from 43% in 2023.

These data were gathered following the introduction of fee management under the government’s Core Funding Scheme, including a fee freeze introduced in 2022. Parents also now benefit from recent increases in subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme - with 74% of parents availing of these subsidies to offset out of pocket costs for childcare reporting that the subsidies were easy to access.

Notwithstanding this progress, findings show many parents continue to experience difficulty in finding a childcare place for their child and in paying for childcare, including 38% of parents of pre-school age children in non-parental care who reported they find it difficult or very difficult to meet the out-of-pocket costs.

Additionally, further analysis identified key gender differences, with significantly more females reporting difficulties with arranging early learning and childcare, leading to restricting the hours they could work or study (46%) and preventing them from looking for a job (39%).

While the survey reflects many positive strides, the survey also highlights that the burden remains high for some families in accessing childcare. The survey also shows that while awareness of supports, such as those under the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), have improved, it remains low. My Department has made ambitious commitments under the Programme for Government in the area of childcare costs aimed at reducing costs to families. In addition to this, an awareness raising campaign is underway to highlight the supports offered by my Department to help reduce the costs of childcare.