Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2264. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps her Department is taking to increase investment in childcare infrastructure and expand creche and after-school service capacity in the Raheny, Kilbarrack area, in light of the growing shortage of childcare places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40897/25]

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.

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.

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.

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. For the current programme year, the allocation for Core Funding allows for a 6% increase in capacity. Additional funding was secured in Budget 2025 to facilitate a further 3.5% increase from September 2025, in the fourth programme year.

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. I look forward to seeing how these projects progress over the coming months.

A Forward Planning and Delivery Unit in my Department has been allocated additional staff and is pursuing an ambitious programme of work. A forward planning model is 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 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. This work will be supported through capital investment under the revised National Development Plan.

Some early scoping work has been carried out to explore options to introduce a segment of public provision. More detailed and extensive policy development and design is ongoing in order progress to implementation stage, having regard to the wider emerging policy context as set out in the Programme for Government.

My Department funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees, which provide support and assist families and early learning and childcare providers. The network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees across the country can assist in identifying vacant places in services for children and families who need them and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance. Contact details for the Dublin City Childcare Committee may be found at www.childcareonline.ie.

Barry Heneghan (Dublin Bay North, Independent)
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2265. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will outline the actions being taken to improve pay and conditions for childcare workers and to support working families in the Raheny, Kilbarrack area, struggling to access affordable childcare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40898/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Pay is one of a number of issues impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. However, while Government is the primary funder of the sector, the State is not an employer of staff and neither I, nor my Department, set pay or working conditions. The Joint Labour Committee process is the mechanism by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in law through Employment Regulation Orders.

Outcomes from the Joint Labour Committee process are supported by Government through Core Funding, which has seen its allocation increase from €259 million in year 1 to €350 million for the coming year 2025/2026. An additional €45 million has been ring-fenced to support employers meet the costs of further increases to the minimum rates of pay. This allocation is conditional on updated Employment Regulation Orders.

Through the Joint Labour Committee process and supported through the Government’s Core Funding scheme, Employment Regulation Orders have been signed into law in September 2022 and June 2024 to progressively increase wage rates in the sector for staff at different grades. The associated increases in minimum rates of pay saw increases for over 70% and 52% of staff working with children in the sector.

In June 2025, new proposals for increases to minimum rates of pay for Early Years Educators and School-Age Childcare Practitioners were put forward by the Joint Labour Committee members. A public consultation on these draft proposals is currently under way as provided for under the Industrial Relations Act 1946.

These proposals are a welcome first step in the process of developing improved Employment Regulation Orders for the sector. The Programme for Government commits to continue to implement Employment Regulation Orders to attract and retain early years educators.

A longer-term workforce strategy for the sector is in place: "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028". Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector. One of the five "pillars" of Nurturing Skills comprises commitments aimed at supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce, and it includes actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector.

Improving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government.

It is important to note that 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. For the current programme year, the allocation for Core Funding allows for a 6% increase in capacity. Additional funding was secured in Budget 2025 to facilitate a further 3.5% increase from September 2025, in the fourth programme year.

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. I look forward to seeing how these projects progress over the coming months.

A Forward Planning and Delivery Unit in my Department has been additional staff and is pursuing an ambitious programme of work. This includes developing a forward planning model. This will support the Programme for Government’s wider ambition to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system with State-led facilities adding capacity. This includes additional resources for forward planning; the development of a capital programme to invest in state-owned early learning and childcare facilities; co-ordination with the school building programme; supports for services operating within schools; and developing planning guidance to ensure that early learning and childcare buildings are provided and put into use. This work will be supported through capital investment under the revised National Development Plan.

My Department also funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees, which support and assist families and early learning and childcare providers. The network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees across the country can assist in identifying vacant places in services for children and families who need them and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance. Contact details for the Dublin City Childcare Committee may be found at www.childcareonline.ie.

Regarding the point on affordability, the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is available to parents to help reduce the cost of early learning and school age childcare for families. A universal subsidy is available to all families availing of the NCS and an income-assessed subsidy provides higher subsidies to families on lower incomes.

The NCS has undergone a number of enhancements in recent years to further improve affordability for parents. Most recently this includes two increases to the universal subsidy from €0.50 in 2022 to €2.14 in 2024, meaning all families availing of the NCS can now avail of a minimum subsidy worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours.

As of September 2024 families using a Tusla registered childminder can now avail of the NCS towards their costs for the first time.

My Department will shortly commence an evaluation of the NCS. A central focus of this evaluation will be to assess the Scheme’s performance to date and to explore potential enhancements that could further improve the affordability and accessibility of childcare for working families.

In addition to the supports provided under the NCS, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme has played a significant role in making early learning more affordable. The Programme offers two years of pre-school without charge and has achieved a participation rate of 96%. Furthermore, over 70% of low-income families report that they would be unable to send their child to pre-school without this Programme.