Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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376. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on an audit on the number of childcare facilities per local authority that have undergone a change of use from childcare to housing, retail, community infrastructure or any other purpose; if she will share that data; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33487/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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377. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for an update on an audit that then Taoiseach Simon Harris requested in 2024 in relation to the number of childcare facilities in each local authority that have not been put to use, are lying empty, have had applications for a change of use, or have undergone a change of use; to share that data; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33488/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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378. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for any data she has on childcare facilities where there has been a planning application for a change of use, whether that application has been successful or not, and for what new use was requested, in the past ten years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33489/25]

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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379. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth for any data she has on childcare facilities per local authority that are lying empty and have not been put to use, in the past ten years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33490/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 376, 377, 378 and 379 together.

Detailed data on planning and land use, including requests for change of use from planning permission previously granted, are not held by my Department. I am advised that the information requested is also not compiled by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage. In general, the operation of the planning system is a matter for local authorities.

Ensuring that there is sufficient physical infrastructure available to enable the delivery of appropriate levels of early learning and childcare supply is important to my Department’s priority to support access to the volume and type of places that align with families’ needs.

A Forward Planning and Delivery Unit within my Department is engaged in detailed analysis of the number, type and location of early learning and childcare places in services at local level across the country and how this relates to the numbers and ages of children in the surrounding areas. This will support the development of policy to align future levels of supply with anticipated demand.

Specifically in relation to the Deputy’s queries about the undertaking of an audit of early learning and childcare facilities, this is currently being considered by a Working Group on Early Learning and Childcare Matters which is chaired by my Department and which includes officials from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage and the Department of Education and Youth.

The working group is undertaking an examination and review of the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings with a view to updating them.

The 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings were issued under section 28 of the Planning and Development Act 2000. The guidelines are intended to ensure a consistency of approach throughout the country to the treatment of applications in respect to the land use planning aspects of early learning and childcare provision, for relevant planning applications.

While the 2001 Planning Guidelines have certainly contributed to the coming on stream of a considerable number of early learning and childcare facilities, I recognise that they require updating to ensure that they are fit for purpose and can deliver the type of infrastructure required in future years. Key considerations will include the treatment of apartments in the determining of the level of early learning and childcare provision required and the size and design specifications of facilities required to be delivered. Ensuring the buildings are delivered can be effectively operationalised will be an important factor in any revision.

The first step towards revising the guidelines has been to engage with local authorities with experience of applying the guidelines to understand their impact and issues arising. The findings of this process will inform the scale and content of revisions to the guidelines. An inception meeting took placed on 9 June, involving members of the working group and officials from different local authorities who were nominated by the County and City Management Association Planning and Land Use Committee. Further follow up is planned with the local authority nominees with a view to seeking wider input from across the local authorities.