Shónagh Ní Raghallaigh (Kildare South, Sinn Fein)
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461. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of Irish language child-care places available outside the Gaeltacht, with particular reference to Gaeltacht service towns and Irish language networks; the provision made in her Department’s budget estimates for 2026 to support the establishment of new provision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66780/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Department does not currently hold a directory of naíonraí or Irish-medium settings.

In 2023, the Department undertook a survey of Irish-medium early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) settings including childminders to obtain a baseline of the current level of Irish-medium provision in the sector. This survey asked service providers to distinguish, based on the language used in staff interactions with children, whether their service is: wholly Irish-medium; a mixed setting where part of the setting is English-medium and part of the setting is Irish-medium; an English-medium setting with some use of Irish; or a wholly English-medium setting.

Since then, the same question has been asked of services by Pobal through the Early Years Platform (Service Profile), which is used by the large majority of ELC and SAC settings. The most recent Service Profile data available to the Department indicates that, of 4,582 ELC and SAC services outside Gaeltacht areas that answered the question, 105 services were reported to be wholly Irish-medium and 133 services were reported to be mixed settings where part of the service is Irish-medium. This data is self-reported by services.

The Department's funding for Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) services is provided on the same basis to both Irish-medium and English-medium services, whether inside or outside Gaeltacht areas.

In line with commitments in the 5-year Action Plan for the Irish language, the Department recruited an Irish Language Support Coordinator in 2022 for a period of three years to drive the development of a National Plan and has provided funding since 2023 to Better Start to recruit an Irish Language Early Years Specialist to support mentoring and advice to Irish-medium early learning and care settings. The recruitment of a new Team Lead role in Better Start is underway. This role will further support the integration of Irish language supports into Better Start mentoring and other supports to Early Learning and Care settings.

The Department of Rural and Community Development and the Gaeltacht (DRCDG) has responsibility for the Irish language. DRCDG provides additional supports for Irish-medium ELC services in the Gaeltacht through its agencies and organisations such as Comhar Naíonraí na Gaeltachta.

In addition, in June 2024, DRCDG announced five-year funding to provide a comprehensive support and development service to naíonraí outside of the Gaeltacht, to be administered by Gaeloideachas. Furthermore, this Department has provided funding to Gaeloideachas in 2025 to support Irish-medium ELC settings. Additionally, the Department is currently working in collaboration with other relevant Departments and agencies to develop a national plan to further the development of Irish language provision in the ELC and SAC sector.

The development of such a plan is a commitment in the 5-Year Action Plan for the Irish Language. The national plan is expected to support the delivery of two commitments in First 5: the Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families: “Introduce measures to ensure that children in Gaeltacht areas have access to Irish-medium ELC provision” and “Develop mechanisms to provide Irish-language supports to ELC provision where there are high proportions of children who are learning through the medium of Irish”. The plan is also expected to support the delivery of commitments in the Programme for Government to: “Support naíonraí and creches to ensure early education access in Gaeltacht communities and beyond” and “Plan the development of State-led facilities in tandem with the school building programme, including Irish-medium naíonraí”.

It is intended that the Plan will be published in the coming months.

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.