Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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1588. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her views on and the status of the provision of 700 childcare places through the acquisition of State-led childcare services in 2026. [59517/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government commits for the first time to provision of early learning and childcare through State-led facilities adding capacity in areas where unmet need exists.

State ownership of facilities is a very substantial and significant development and offers the potential to influence the nature and volume of provision available and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand.

Detailed and extensive policy development and design is ongoing in order to progress to implementation stage, having regard to the wider emerging policy context as set out in the Programme for Government.

The development of State-led early learning and childcare services will be enabled by capital allocation provided in the revised National Development Plan 2026-2030. As announced in the context of Budget 2026, €36 million will be available in 2026 for early learning and childcare capital programmes. This will include acquisitions of new buildings through the State-led early learning and childcare programme, investment in expansion of existing early learning and childcare operators through the Building Blocks scheme and a number of quality initiatives including supports to childminders.

This work is being led by a new Forward Planning and Delivery Unit which is focused on identifying areas of need, forecasting demand, and planning for the delivery of public supply within the early learning and childcare sector where required.

A key aspect of the preparatory work being undertaken by the unit is the development of a forward planning model. The forward planning model 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 approach to ensuring appropriate levels of early learning and childcare supply, including through State-led facilities, will be further articulated in the context of the Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system that the Government is committed to publishing.