Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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210. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when the review of the regulatory framework for school-age children will be complete. [36385/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Implementation Plan 2023-25 under First 5 (the Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families) commits to the development of comprehensive regulations for school-age childcare services, with a milestone objective of drafting regulations by the end of 2025.

The Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) (Registration of School Age Services) Regulations 2018 set out the Regulations that currently apply to school-age childcare services. These Regulations first came into force in 2019. As these initial regulations are mainly focused on registration, officials in my Department are now developing the comprehensive regulations to replace the initial regulations, in line with the commitment in First 5.

I will shortly be launching a public consultation on the content of these regulations. The public consultation will be an opportunity for providers, parents, school-age childcare practitioners, and other stakeholders to shape the legislation that supports the regulation of school-age childcare services and will build on previous consultations including the 2019 consultation on the Development of School Age Childcare Comprehensive Regulations and Quality Standards.