Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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2273. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if he will make childcare affordable by increasing the subsidy and threshold for the national childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [41047/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides both universal and targeted subsidies to reduce the costs to parents for children to participate in early learning and childcare. The Scheme is progressive in nature ensuring the highest levels of subsidies go to families that need them most. The total budget allocation for the NCS has reached €529.8 million in 2025.

The NCS has undergone a number of enhancements in recent years to further improve affordability for parents. These include the extension of the universal subsidy to all children under 15 and two increases to the minimum hourly subsidy, which is now worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours.

Record numbers of children and their families are now benefiting from the NCS. Almost 220,000 unique children benefited from an NCS subsidy in 2024.

Children in childminding settings that have come forward for registration, following changes to the childminder Tusla registration requirements last September, can also benefit from NCS subsidies.

An evaluation of the National Childcare Scheme is due to start this year. This evaluation will review how the Scheme has performed to date and identify potential enhancements that could be made. The findings from this evaluation will inform the work of my Department in reaching the Programme for Government commitment to cap childcare fees at €200 per month per child within the lifetime of this Government.

Further progress on affordability will not be made in isolation and will be integrated with our efforts to improve access, availability and the quality of early learning and childcare provision.