Childcare Services

Parents should not have to choose between collecting their children early and keeping their childcare subsidies, yet parents contacting me have described that dilemma, paying for a childcare place then facing higher bills because they can spend more time with their children. The national childcare scheme is essential, and 246,000 children benefited in 2025. I welcome the improvements in affordability in budget 2027 but the rules must reflect family life. Parents often have to sign up to fixed childcare hours. Many will pay until 6 p.m. because that is what the service offers or because their working arrangements require that flexibility. Collecting children at 5 p.m. does not reduce their childcare bill but repeated early collections can lead to a reduction in their subsidy. Less care is required, the cost stays the same and yet, the parent pays more. One parent described losing the subsidy for the final hour of after-school care, despite paying the full fee until 6 p.m. She had to pay an additional €120 on top of her childcare bill. Another parent paying over €1,000 per month shared a notice from their crèche about designated NCS compliance weeks when children are expected to attend all of the registered hours or face additional charges. Parents are worrying about early collections for swimming lessons, family time or therapy appointments. Let us just think about that. Parents should be able to bring their child to a therapy appointment without worrying about paying a higher childcare bill. A third parent who has three children in childcare, including a baby, and is on maternity leave, described her child's childcare package, which includes a breakfast club for one of her sons. However, she enjoys bringing him to school herself while she is on maternity leave and she can. She says she has been told to send him to breakfast club and leave him in childcare until 5.30 p.m. for one week out of every eight. Why should she wake her child up earlier, bring him to childcare she does not need and give up that precious time she could have with him when she is already paying for her place anyway? We should not have a system that creates a financial disincentive for parents to spend more time with their children. This is an example of when rules and common sense collide and parents pay the price. Previous parliamentary question responses explained to me that the scheme accommodates variations in attendance, including during school holidays, but flexibility in a subsidy calculation is only useful if parents can pay for childcare on the same flexible basis. We know how much family life changes day to day. Parents take those extra moments whenever they can get them. I recognise the need to protect public money as well, which is essential, but a contracted childcare place is a real cost. Staff must be paid and the place kept available, even when a parent finishes work early. A parent collecting their child early has not stopped paying for childcare and that is why I am asking the Department to examine a move towards a system that better reflects contracted and paid for childcare hours. Where parents are paying for a childcare place, they should not automatically face a reduction in their subsidy simply because their child attends for fewer hours. I welcome confirmation that the independent evaluation of the national childcare scheme will examine attendance rules and I ask that it specifically considers how a more flexible approach with appropriate safeguards could be introduced. We are investing to ease the pressure on families and childcare and our rules should support that purpose.

I thank the Deputy for raising this issue. It is an issue she is passionate about and she does an awful lot of work in this area. I apologise the Minister is not here to reply to her directly. The national childcare scheme provides financial support to help families with their early learning and childcare costs. The families of almost 247,000 children availed of NCS subsidies in 2025 to help offset the costs of early learning and childcare. Up to 277,000 children are expected to avail of the scheme this year. The NCS is designed to be flexible, recognising early learning and childcare needs are different for each family. Under the scheme, subsidies are awarded as an hourly rate, up to a maximum of 45 hours per week. The hours-based nature of the NCS is designed to fit around the needs of families and ensure that the effectiveness of funding is maximised for all. The scheme enables families to agree the number of hours to be used with their service provider within overall scheme limits. The number of hours can be altered from week to week. For example, the subsidy can be increased during a school midterm where a parent requires more hours of care. This design allows families to benefit from a subsidy for the hours they actually require. The Department designed the NCS to also be flexible around children’s attendance, recognising that children’s attendance may vary from week to week. If a child is occasionally picked up early or misses an occasional day, this will not impact on a family’s subsidy. Only if a child consistently attends fewer than the agreed hours for a consecutive 12-week period will the subsidy be reviewed. In the usual course, a warning will issue after eight weeks and, if not adjusted after 12 weeks, the allocation will be adjusted to reflect the real pattern of attendance. This period can be extended under certain circumstances. This combination of flexibility and accountability provides an appropriate balance of supporting parents and providers while also ensuring the efficient use of Exchequer funding. An independent evaluation of the NCS commenced in March 2026. This evaluation will review how the scheme has performed to date and identify any potential improvements that could be made to better support families. The findings of the evaluation will inform potential enhancements to the scheme to continue to support families with accessing early learning and childcare. Any further changes to the NCS arising from the findings of this evaluation will be informed by a thorough review of international literature and comprehensive stakeholder engagement. However, to ensure the effective use of Exchequer funds, rules regarding attendance will remain an important feature of the operation of the NCS. This is a key financial and governance control to ensure that Exchequer funding is used responsibly, and not to fund full-time places in respect of a child actually attending part-time hours. The Department must ensure, in so far as possible, the equitable treatment of all children and families who apply for subsidies under the NCS. If families are unsure of the rules on attendance for the NCS, they can contact the parent support centre on the NCS website or contact their local county or city childcare committee.

I thank the Minister of State. It is similar to other responses I have received, which is why I wanted to debate it directly with the Minister. No parent should be standing outside of a creche, knowing their child is inside and wanting to collect their child but wondering if they can afford to do so. National childcare scheme subsidies should reflect the childcare parents have to pay for. When parents can spend more time with their children, the system should support that and it should not be making it more expensive for them. I also want to raise the fact that providers are not responsible for these rules but they are the ones who are expected to enforce them, explain them to parents and deal with the consequences when the subsidies are reduced. They are trying to run a childcare service, support families and retain staff while navigating a complex system of administration and compliance. Under the NCS, providers must monitor and record attendance, manage registrations through individual childcare identifier code key, CHICK, identifiers and reconcile attendance against subsidised hours. Many are doing that alongside separate requirements of the early childhood care and education programme and core funding, each with their own administration. I accept and would expect that accountability for public expenditure is essential but we have to ask if that level of administration on them is proportionate. Childcare professionals would prefer to be spending their time caring for children and not policing how long parents leave them in childcare. I have been examining other models, including the Dutch childcare subsidy model where subsidies are based on contracted and paid for hours rather than routinely reconciled against actual attendance. There is merit in examining whether a similar approach could be taken.

I thank the Deputy. I agree that it is unfortunate as I know she wanted an engagement with the Minister. Hopefully, there will be an opportunity to have a further engagement with her on those very important points she raised. The Minister has outlined her position on how the model works and the ongoing independent evaluation of it to ensure a better operating system in the future. I will convey the Deputy's views to her as well,