811. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the estimated percentage and number of parents currently availing of early learning and childcare services who will not benefit from the recently announced €550 monthly childcare fee cap, particularly families whose existing fees exceed this amount due to accessing more than 40 hours of childcare per week and those required to pay …
Parliamentary questions
Questions
TDs ask ministers questions to get answers on the record, most of them in writing. Here is every one asked in the 34th Dáil, by the department it went to and the subject heading it was filed under. How questions work
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Showing questions asked by Robert O'Donoghue under the heading Childcare Services.
36 questions match, newest first.
637. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide a breakdown of early years providers that are not in receipt of core funding, disaggregated by urban and rural location, and, where available, by county or province; and to set out the number of children and families affected in each area and where the impact of the lack of core funding is being felt most acutely by pare…
1096. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps being taken by her Department to address the ongoing issues experienced by early learning and childcare providers across the country in using the HIVE system, particularly the significant difficulties and administrative problems reported by providers throughout the summer; whether her Department has assessed the impact t…
443. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme projects that are proposed for Fingal; the location of each proposed project; the current status of each project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54366/26]
444. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any sites in Fingal have been identified, approved in principle or progressed under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; if she will provide details of each site; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54367/26]
445. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether services delivered under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme will be operated exclusively by not-for-profit providers; and whether any private for-profit providers will be eligible to operate State-owned facilities; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54368/26]
446. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the way in which operators for State-led early learning and childcare services will be selected; whether there will be an open competitive process; the governance, financial, quality and operational criteria that will apply; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54369/26]
447. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of operators to date, that have been selected or approved under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; the name of each operator and the associated project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54370/26]
448. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the criteria used by her Department to select sites for investment under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; the weighting given to unmet demand, deprivation, rurality, accessibility, value-for-money and project readiness; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54371/26]
449. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of projects that have been approved in principle nationally under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; the number of persons that remain under assessment, by county and project; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54372/26]
450. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department plans to publish the Forward Planning Model, appraisal methodology and scoring framework used to identify and prioritise projects under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54373/26]
451. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether expressions of interest have been sought from prospective operators for any State-led childcare projects in Fingal; if so, the number of expressions of interest that were received; the number of these that were assessed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54374/26]
452. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures in place to ensure transparency in the selection of both sites and operators under the State-led Early Learning and Childcare Capital Programme; whether the scoring and evaluation of applications will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54375/26]
641. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the breakdown of the current funding streams in childcare; the breakdown of the additional funding provided in Budget 2026, in tabular form; the expected funding required in 2027 to maintain existing levels of service; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51149/26]
663. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the governance arrangements relating to the board of a childcare committee (details supplied). [51459/26]
388. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the mechanisms in place to ensure that early learning and childcare providers participating in the core funding scheme comply with the fee management conditions, and do not increase fees charged to parents contrary to the terms of the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50364/26]
389. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether compliance is monitored directly by her Department, by Pobal, by the network of City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs), or by another body; to outline the respective responsibilities of each organisation in relation to monitoring and enforcement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50365/26]
390. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of fee management reviews, investigations, audits or compliance checks undertaken in each year since the introduction of core funding; the number of breaches identified and sanctions applied; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50366/26]
391. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the historical fee information retained by her Department or its agents for participating providers, including the earliest date for which fee schedules are held; whether fee lists dating back to 30 September 2021 (or earlier where applicable) remain available for compliance and audit purposes; and if she will make a statement on t…
392. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether all providers in receipt of core funding are required to submit updated fee lists annually; the way in which those fee lists are verified against the baseline fee applicable under the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50368/26]
393. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total number of fee reviews initiated; the number of fee reviews initiated since the establishment of the core funding scheme resulted in a finding that parents were being overcharged by a partner service and therefore in breach of core funding rules; to confirm if payments to that service provider have been placed on hold; her…
394. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality where a finding of overcharging/breach of core funding rules was made against a partner service, to indicate in each instance the length of time the case took from first complaint to a finding that the partner service was breaching core funding rules; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [50370/26]
395. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total number of cases where a partner service was found to have raised fees in breach of the core funding rules, if the relevant partner service has confirmed to her Department that it has completed all remedial actions within the specified time period, including refunds of parents if required; and if she will make a statement …
396. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in situations where the partner service has confirmed that they have completed all remedial actions including refunds, to outline the way in which the evidence of remedy provided by the service provider has been verified by her Department; if parents and service users who were deemed to have been overcharged have been included in t…
397. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to identify the instances where a finding has been made that a partner service has overcharged parents in breach of core funding rules; where the deadline for complying with the remedial actions including refunds has passed and her Department has been made aware (by any means) that the partner service has not in fact complied with …