John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

126. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the progress within her Department towards the development of a new programme of acquisition and fitout of State-led early learning and childcare services, to increase places to meet demand for affordable, accessible, high quality early learning and childcare that is not otherwise being delivered; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61522/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

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.

As part of the National Development Plan review the allocation for my Department has increased to €795 million over the next five years. This increased funding will be used in part to provide additional early learning and childcare places through future capital programmes, which will primarily focus on implementing the commitment to capital investment in State-owned facilities. Making available a further round of funding to existing services to expand their provision will also be enabled by the NDP allocation.

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.

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.

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.