Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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93. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on the Programme for Government commitment to increase the number of State-owned early learning and care facilities progressively; the number of facilities planned to be purchased in 2026; if it is her intention to move forward with a public model of childcare delivery as a significant proportion of overall availability in the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61617/25]

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.

As part of the National Development Plan review the allocation for this 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-led 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.

Up to eight new services will be acquired over the course of 2026 resulting in approximately between 600 and 800 new places being delivered.

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.

State-led early learning and childcare builds on existing trajectory in Government policy for the sector as set out in Partnership for the Public Good in 2021, the key theme of which was the need to strengthen State involvement in the sector through greater levels of public management accompanied by increased State funding. Significant advances have been made in public management and increased public funding over the last number of years and State-led early learning and childcare is part of the next phase of developments building on this foundation.

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.