Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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99. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress made in expanding access to childcare, on foot of the finding in research commissioned by her Department, which shows almost two out of every three respondents faced a restriction on hours of work or study due to childcare challenges; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [32102/25]

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, highlight both the positive progress made and challenges that exist in accessibility of both pre-school age and school going childcare for families. Of those surveyed, 95% of parents of pre-school children and 93% of parents of school-going children reported being satisfied with their current childcare arrangements, with 85% of surveyed parents of pre-school children reporting using their preferred childcare arrangement. 49% of parents of pre-school age children in non-parental care who were surveyed reported finding it easy or fairly easy to pay for childcare, compared with 28% of parents surveyed in 2023. Notwithstanding this progress, the findings show many parents continue to experience difficulty in finding a childcare place for their child.

Significant progress has been made in improving accessibility of funded early learning and childcare in recent years.

The ECCE Programme provides for preschool for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week for 38 weeks per year without charge to the parent. Children are eligible for 2 years of the ECCE Programme, with a 96% uptake rate of the Programme among the age-eligible cohort. In a recent review of ECCE, over 70% of families on low-income reported that they would not be able to send their child to pre-school without this programme, demonstrating the impact ECCE has on accessibility.

The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides financial support to help parents to meet the cost of childcare and allow children to access Early Learning and School Age Childcare. NCS supports consist of a universal subsidy and an income assessed subsidy which is calculated based on the individual circumstances of the applicant. The income assessment component of the Scheme ensures that the highest level of subsidy is available to families who need it most. The attendance-based nature of the NCS, which subsidises up to 45 hours per week of early learning and childcare, is designed to fit around the needs of families.

The NCS universal subsidy has, since September 2024, been worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours. Since last September, children in childminding settings have also been able to come forward for registration, following changes to the childminder Tulsa registration requirement. A record number of children – approximately 190,000 – have benefitted from the National Childcare Scheme this year.

An evaluation of the National Childcare Scheme is due to start later this year. This evaluation will review how the Scheme has performed to date and identify potential enhancements that could be made on improving accessibility.

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 childcare remains higher than available supply, particularly for younger children and in certain parts of the country.

As outlined in the Programme for Government a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare system will be developed, informed by stakeholder consultation.

My Department is in the planning phase for this work. The timelines for undertaking the broad consultation and publishing the Action Plan will be determined during this planning phase.