Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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777. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update regarding the gradual reduction of childcare costs, as committed to in the Programme for Government; the steps she has taken to progress this policy; the timeline for the publication of an official plan in this regard; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54848/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Government is committed to ensuring access to affordable, quality early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC), with an investment of €1.48bn in the 2026 budget. This funding will allow my Department to build on recent progress in the gradual reduction of fees for parents, while also supporting supply and the quality of provision. New caps on maximum fees came into effect in September 2025 for all services in Core Funding, building on a range of enhancements to the National Childcare Scheme and Core Funding in recent years, reducing fees to parents.

Budget 2026 will enable Core Funding to continue to support fee-control measures, and will also allow for growth in the sector. The allocation for Core Funding in 2026 will ensure fees remain at 2021 levels for a majority of providers. As well as this, there will be a new maximum fee cap set to reduce costs for families paying the highest fees across the country. Further details of the new, lower maximum fee caps will be announced in the coming months.

The 2026 allocation for Core Funding will also support implementation of the recently announced Employment Regulation Orders (ERO), which will lead to a 10% increase in the minimum rate of pay for educators from 13 October.

There will also be enhancements in Year 5 of the scheme to improve pay for educators and school age childcare practitioners with implementation of new ERO.

Capital funding is also being made available in 2026 for the sector.

All of this will be detailed in the Action Plan on Accessible, High Quality, Affordable ELC and SAC, which my Department is continuing to develop. The Action Plan will be informed by a broad consultation process and will set out plans to achieve Programme for Government commitments, including the commitment to reduce maximum monthly fees to €200 over the lifetime of the Government.