Questions

506. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the details of strategic planning and future goals for Irish-language early childhood education, key performance indicators for growth, and efforts to preserve the Irish language through these services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13819/26]

507. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of a potential Judicial Review of the 2025 ERO for the childcare sector being brought before the courts; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13265/26]

530. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on the payment of a building blocks improvement scheme 2023 grant for a creche (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13640/26]

541. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department accepts that the Children First Act 2015 and Children First National Guidance do not provide an express statutory basis for early years services to share serious staff-conduct safeguarding information between employers where the conduct falls short of a criminal threshold, including for recruitment references, suit…

542. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has conducted, commissioned or received any legal, policy, or regulatory review since 2020 on “lawful information-sharing” in the early years sector for safeguarding concerns relating to adults working with children, including analysis of data protection, employment law and fair procedures constraints; and if she w…

543. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has considered establishing a statutory safeguarding-disclosure scheme for early years services, including (a) a defined threshold for disclosure based on risk to children, (b) independent assessment prior to any adverse finding, (c) notice to the staff member, (d) an appeal mechanism, (e) time limits and proportio…

544. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality what guidance her Department has issued to early years services on the recording, retention, and sharing of staff-related safeguarding concerns that do not meet the mandated reporting threshold, including guidance on risk assessments, internal investigations, and reference requests; and if no such guidance has issued, whether she will pu…

545. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has engaged with Tusla, the Data Protection Commission, and representative bodies for early learning and childcare providers on the practical barriers to safeguarding information-sharing about staff conduct across early years settings; and if she will provide the dates of engagement and the key issues raised. [138…

550. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she is formally notified, either directly or through structured reporting arrangements, of substantiated governance or safeguarding failures identified by Tusla in early years services that receive public funding; if so, to outline the reporting mechanism, frequency and thresholds for notification; and, if not, to state how she i…

551. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of occasions since 1 January 2020 on which substantiated governance or safeguarding failures in publicly funded early years services have been escalated to her Department at senior official level; the categories of concern involved; and whether any resulted in policy review, regulatory amendment, contractual revision, or fundi…

552. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to set out the formal governance interface between her Department and Tusla in respect of oversight of early years services, including whether a structured compliance reporting template exists, whether trend analysis is conducted centrally, and whether aggregated safeguarding data informs policy development or funding decisions. [14832/2…

258. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early years spaces currently provided in the Dublin 7 and Dublin 3 areas; the steps being taken to increase childcare places in these postal codes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [13412/26]

1031. Deputy Conor D. McGuinness asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she has received any update from the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage regarding Tailte Éireann sending commercial rates bills to pre-schools operating under the ECCE scheme; whether this is now the standard for all ECCE pre-schools; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12439/26]

1038. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the position regarding any grant funding available that an organisation (details supplied) could apply for to support the provision of free Montessori facilities in their community space; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [12726/26]

279. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently on a waiting list in County Kildare for early learning and childcare places; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11031/26]

934. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if any of the State’s acquisition of buildings intended for the purpose of developing early year facilities will be located in Dublin’s north city. [9508/26]

935. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the criteria for the State’s purchase of buildings for the purposes of developing early year facilities. [9509/26]

944. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on Action 44 of Nurturing Skills to examine development of a range of entry routes into the early years sector, including apprenticeships or other work-based learning, and access programmes in FE and HE; the correspondence she has had with the Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovat…

348. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether, under plans for State-led early years services, areas with need not being met will be identified and will be limited to those areas where there are willing existing operators; whether areas with need without a willing existing operator will be excluded given this will impact areas with need most; and if she will make a statem…

907. Deputy Holly Cairns asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if the process for registering as an early years provider will be streamlined to allow for faster registration; and if those going through the registration process with Tusla will be granted some leeway to remain operational while they register (details supplied). [7742/26]

912. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the breakdown of which counties the Shaping the Future: Early Years Action Plan is planned for, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7878/26]

913. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if counties Cavan and Monaghan have been considered for the Shaping the Future: Early Years Action Plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [7879/26]

917. Deputy Robert Troy asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the level of funding which the early years services are receiving (details supplied). [8034/26]

918. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to conduct a review of the ECCE eligibility cut-off dates, with a view to eliminating the unfair disadvantage faced by children born in early January. [8037/26]

919. Deputy Paul Donnelly asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to consider a rolling or more flexible entry system of the ECCE scheme, rather than a rigid annual cut-off that fails to reflect children’s developmental needs and increase the enrolment windows into the scheme. [8038/26]