Martin Daly (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail)
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632. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of the significant shortfall in early years childcare provision in Boyle, County Roscommon (details supplied); if funding or support will be made available to develop suitable premises for additional childcare services in the area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35308/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government.

I am grateful for the insights of the childcare needs analysis report and the work carried out by the Boyle Family Resource Centre in providing this report. My officials are considering its contents to understand the analysis and insights it provides.

Demand for early learning and childcare beyond sessional pre-school provision is highly elastic and shaped very substantially by families' individual composition, circumstances, and preferences; employment patterns and income; and the price and availability of services.

Whereas there is a clear aspiration to ensure access to sessional preschool through the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme for all children for the two years prior to the start of primary school, the level of full time provision for children under 3 determined to be required by the Barcelona targets is 35%.

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 in certain parts of the country, particularly for younger children.

My Department continues to support the ongoing development and resourcing of Core Funding which has given rise to a significant expansion of places since the scheme was first introduced. Core Funding, which is in its third programme year, funds services based on the number of places available. This provides stability to services, and reduces the risk associated with opening a new service or expanding an already existing service.

The Government is also supporting the expansion of capacity through capital funding. The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme is designed to increase capacity in the 1–3-year-old, pre–Early Childhood Care and Education, age range for full day care. Core Funding partner services could apply for capital funding to physically extend their premises or to construct or purchase new premises.

50 applications will be progressing to the next stage of the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme. These 50 applications come from a mix of Community Extension (24), Private Extension (7), Community Purchasing (4) and Community Construction (15) projects, which, when completed, will deliver 1,500 additional full time childcare places for 1-3 year olds. A service in Roscommon was approved for funding under the scheme. I look forward to seeing how these projects progress over the coming months.

A forward planning model is also 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.

The forward planning model being developed draws on administrative data to map the child population and location of funded services, and GIS mapping tools to model the link between children and available services. This will enable the identification and comparison of areas of need with a consistent methodology.

The Programme for Government commits for the first time to provide capital investment to build or purchase state-owned early learning and childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. State ownership of facilities is a very substantial and significant development and offers the potential for much greater scope to influence the nature and volume of provision available and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand.

The approach to capital investment in future years is being considered within the context of the Programme for Government commitments and the revision to the National Development Plan which is ongoing.