James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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157. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on the Programme for Government commitment to extend the national childcare scheme to childminders working in the family home, with sensible regulations that fit homebased care; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61556/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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All paid, non-relative childminders who work in their own homes can now register with Tusla and access the National Childcare Scheme.

The National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 set out a pathway for the extension of registration to childminders who work in their own homes. A key objective of the National Action Plan for Childminding is to enable parents who use childminders to benefit from State subsidies through the National Childcare Scheme.

The Childcare Support Act 2018, which provides a statutory basis for the National Childcare Scheme, specifies that only Tusla-registered childminders are eligible to participate in the Scheme. The limitation of public funding schemes to Tusla-registered childcare providers helps to ensure that public funding is provided where there is assurance of the quality of provision.

As a result of the commencement of the relevant parts of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2024 and the Childminding Services Regulations, which came into effect on 30 September 2024, childminders are now able to apply to register with Tusla.

The childminding-specific Regulations are designed to be proportionate and appropriate to the home and family setting in which childminders work. The regulations differ substantially from regulations for centre-based childcare.

The 2024 Act provides for a transition period of three years before registration becomes mandatory. This phased approach aims to facilitate the largest possible number of childminders to enter the regulated sector, the sphere of quality assurance, and access to Government subsidies, while recognising the time and supports required for childminders to learn about and prepare for registration.

The National Action Plan for Childminding distinguishes childminding which involves care in the childminder’s home from care that takes place in the child’s home, which may be carried out by a nanny, au pair or babysitter. This distinction is also reflected in the legal definition of a childminder set out in the primary legislation.

The employment relationship and the legal and regulatory context are different between childminders who work in the childminder’s home and someone who works in the child’s home (e.g. nannies and au pairs). A childminder working from the childminder’s own home is self-employed, whereas someone caring for a child in the child’s own home is regarded as an employee of the child’s parents. In addition, because they work in the parents’/child’s home rather than their own home, au pairs and nannies cannot be held responsible for the safety or suitability of that home for the purpose of early learning or childcare. Furthermore, the employment of someone in the child’s home may involve a combination of caring with other roles, e.g. cleaning or other domestic duties. This would require a different regulatory and funding approach, which has not yet been scoped.

The National Action Plan for Childminding does, however, commit to develop supports to strengthen the quality of childcare provision by nannies and au pairs. This might involve either provision of information (to parents and/or nannies/au pairs) or training for nannies / au pairs – in both cases the focus could be on what quality provision looks like as well as information about legal and employment responsibilities.

While the Department has successfully completed Phase 1 of the National Action Plan, considerable challenges lie ahead during Phase 2 in supporting the large number of unregistered childminders to register with Tusla and take part in the National Childcare Scheme before the end of the transition period in 2027. Given the scale of the challenge that still remains, my priority is to deliver on the remaining phases of the National Action Plan in the coming years.

The Department has committed to a review of the initial implementation of the Childminding-specific Regulations (which will include consultation with childminders and other stakeholders) during the three-year transition period which runs to September 2027. Following conclusion of this review, I will give consideration to the appropriate next steps.

Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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158. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on the action plan for childcare and a date for the launch. [61907/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government outlines the commitment to "undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system".

Officials in the Department are continuing to develop this Action Plan which will look at affordability, access and quality of the early learning and care and school-age childcare system. These three attributes – affordability, accessibility and quality – are closely connected and the ways in which they interact is complex. It will be essential that we make progress in all three areas in parallel in order to deliver on our vision. Officials are working on an integrated approach to minimise the risk of unintended consequences and to identify opportunities to address multiple policy challenges at the same time.

While work on developing the Action Plan is ongoing, we are already taking initial steps to deliver on key commitments in the Programme for Government. Budget 2026 enables 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, which led to a 10% increase in the minimum rate of pay for educators from 13 October.

There will also be enhancements in Year 5 of Core Funding to improve pay for educators and school age childcare practitioners with implementation of new Employment Regulation Orders.

Further steps will be detailed in the Action Plan on Accessible, High Quality, Affordable Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, which the 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.

I will provide further detail on the Action Plan and the consultation process at the earliest opportunity.