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constituents in Dublin Mid-West, delivery means real action in improving their everyday lives, be it in transport, housing, education or childcare. The policies in this programme for Government will shape the Ireland we leave to the next generation, and we must get them right. For my part … communities, in Dublin Mid-West especially, have access to adequate road infrastructure for all modes of transport. I welcome the continued progress on childcare. Parents should not have to choose between work and affordability and childcare workers deserve fair pay for the vital role they play. This Government

family resource centres. A total of €1.65 billion in current funding has been allocated under budget 2027 for early learning and childcare. This represents an 11% increase on last year's funding or an additional €161.8 million. Of the total allocation, €534.6 million will be used to support … range of important priorities in the sector, including the introduction of new maximum fee caps. As part of the early learning and childcare packages in budget 2027, parents' bills will reduce to no more than €550 a month from next September, for children who are being minded

mention one matter that is relevant to the Minister's portfolio. We welcome the changes made in last week's budget to make childcare more affordable. We all know that one of the challenges in that sector is the recruitment of staff. We also know that another challenge … something we should tackle over the coming years in order to ensure that we can increase the salaries of those working in childcare and preschool services. I know that is something to which the Minister is committed in terms of trying to reduce the cost of childcare

recorded statements to reduce Garda time spent attending court. That approach deserves a lot of attention but it has not happened yet. Childcare is another area where this budget falls short. There have been measures to reduce costs for parents which are welcome but there is little … support providers themselves. The longer established childcare operators I mentioned yesterday are increasingly finding participation in schemes financially challenging, so they are pulling out of them. There is no meaningful plan to encourage new providers to enter the market to keep the existing provision open

this cost. The fuel allowance has also increased to €43 a week, with wider eligibility for older persons living alone aged over 66. Childcare costs will be capped at €550 a month from September for children up to senior infants, delivering savings of more than … year. Supporting working families by ensuring that they can access affordable childcare is essential. Fine Gael has consistently worked to make childcare more affordable, while also ensuring that those working in the sector are properly supported. We also announced an increase in the higher income threshold from

That would pay to bring childcare costs down to €10 per day and we would still have a few million euro left. They are the political choices I would make, but the Tánaiste has decided to protect the vulture funds and let families wait a bit longer before … bring in real affordable childcare. Sinn Féin has also made clear that it is not just about affordability. Spaces need to be available and that is why we argued that the Government needed to create an additional 10,000 spaces, increase the pay for childcare workers and double

fabled people who get up early in the morning really are. They are the mam and dad who pay through the nose for childcare and will still barely be able to afford the cost in 11 months' time when today's announcements kick in. They are the nurse … possible to be fiscally responsible and economically and socially ambitious at the same time. Why can we not have world-class health and childcare? Why can we not house our people? Why can we not have secure incomes for those reliant on social protection

full carer's allowance. They work as hard as any other carers. There is another broken commitment in the area of childcare. In the 2024 election campaign, all of the Government parties committed to reducing the cost of childcare to €200 a month. Again, that commitment has been … broken. In fact, the only proper method of providing childcare is through a State-funded and State-subsidised system. The Government could have given hard-pressed families a break. It had that choice but chose not to. The Government had the money. In his budget statement, the Tánaiste

welfare measures. I will also mention some of the other measures in the budget that will make a practical difference to families. On childcare, which is one of the biggest issues in my constituency, the maximum monthly cost per child falling to €550 per month is welcome. From … parents, they are happy with that move. It can mean more than €2,000 per child per year. The increase in the national childcare scheme subsidy is welcomed. There are permanent reductions in the cost of working for families, which I also welcome. There is also progress

issue that I have a problem with. The point I made earlier was that close to work on-campus or on-site childcare is as good as it gets. That is what the university here should be aiming for. The solution is along the lines of the solution … announced by the Minister for children earlier this week with regard to State-led early learning and childcare capital projects, a number of which were announced. This is the way to go. The Minister should look at the campus of the technological university in Tallaght with a view

Deputies have spoken about having proper childcare facilities on campus. Ideally, that is the way to go. The announcement of a number of crèches and of childcare funding earlier this week shows the correct process to do that. However, that is little comfort for the Deputies' constituents … back. The Department and I will ensure the concerns the Deputies have raised are taken up and that everybody, including the county childcare committee and the inspectorate, are working together to find a solution. It is very difficult. The point regarding how short the notice given to families

which everything seems to be going up. It is not just homelessness, house prices and rents but also the cost of petrol, childcare, home heating oil and electricity. It is absolutely everything. There is not a household in this country that are not looking at their bills, trying … well. People are tackling issues all the time. Families are trying to deal with rents like they have never seen before and childcare costs that are absolutely crippling them. The Minister of State needs to act on this. He needs to deal with the issue of home heating

broken record about Boyle in County Roscommon. The feasibility study about the need in Boyle in north Roscommon is that there are 20 childcare places per 1,043 households. I have lost count of how many times I have put that on the Dáil record, but the Minister … will be aware, or her Department will be aware, of a former childcare building that was available in the town and was made known to the county childcare committee and her Department, the forward planning unit of which is leading on this. I want to make that case

clear, proposals to the city or county childcare committees are not all from providers. They can be from anyone. Deputy Wall will appreciate that there has to be some form of a process and the first line of the process has been identified to be the local … ground mechanism of the county and childcare committees. It is free to anybody to make a proposal. In the first instance, this year we are looking at provision of buildings and primarily where a building might be available. I am aware that community groups have stepped forward

deserts and works with the parents, who are ordinary decent families working each day but finding it more and more difficult to get childcare places and do not have the time, energy or perhaps know-how to identify places. This is where I believe the Department … childcare committees come in. I ask that when the Minister receives the proposals from me later today she actively looks at them and at providing childcare places in County Kildare where they are needed

better going forward. I again reiterate that we hope in the coming weeks to make the announcement around eight proposals for State-led childcare this year. Including for rural Ireland, opportunities remain open for any group, individual or organisation that wants to reach out to the city … county childcare committees with proposals whether a proposed building, a site, a building that requires purchase or even a building that simply requires fit out. The Department is very flexible in offering any kind of support we can to enhance the availability of the provision of early years

thought we had left these days behind us because we have made huge strides in the provision of affordable childcare under this Government. In my constituency, however, this progress is being seriously jeopardised by the fact that some providers are being forced to withdraw from the scheme because … locally and when a provider withdraws from core funding, parents are then left with the equivalent of a second mortgage cost for their childcare when a provider withdraws from the core funding system. Providers are saying they are withdrawing and maintaining they cannot cope with the increased costs

ordinated response from the Government. We are tackling the key issues. There is a deficit in some places around the provision of community childcare places. In saying that, I do not agree with the Deputy in every respect. I do not share her view on the for-profit … work is being done. I will talk to the Deputy again about it. We are committed to ensuring that people have access to childcare and community childcare places. I will talk to her ahead of my meeting next week with the two gentlemen in question. However, the important

thank the Deputy for raising this issue. As I said, childcare is a priority for the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality and the Government as a whole. The Deputy is specifically referring to summer camps and recreational activities outside the NCS. Summer camps which provide early years … assessed subsidy for families for two or more children will further reduce families' reckonable income, thereby supporting access to higher subsidy rates for childcare. As I have said, that childcare is available through NCS services throughout the summer months

abolished. The State collects between €4 billion and €5 billion every year through the USC. Meanwhile, families deal with rising housing costs, childcare and fuel costs and energy bills. Independent Ireland believes workers should keep more of the money they earn. That starts with the abolition … Government talks constantly about supply, but people judge housing policy by whether they can afford to buy a home or pay their rent. Childcare is another example of the gap between promises and delivery. Families are repeatedly promised affordable childcare. Parents were told that costs would reduce significantly

best ways we can address the cost-of-living crisis for families with young children is to bring down the cost of childcare and make it more accessible. In my own constituency of Dublin Bay North, we have a lot of new housing estates with young families … waiting list for childcare places is simply huge. The fact is it is stopping many people from returning to work. The cost for those who manage to secure a place are still way too high. While I welcome the progress that has been made in this area

simply indefensible that more than a decade after the media started referring to the cost of childcare as comparable to a second mortgage, the pace of action from the Minister of State's Government could be so lethargic. In 2024, my colleague and the Sinn Féin spokesperson … children, Deputy Kerrane, published a detailed costed plan outlining how Sinn Féin would deliver childcare capped at €200 per month. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, in advance of the general election in 2024, went on to cog Sinn Féin's homework. The problem is that while the Minister

what both Ministers have said, the motion is not just about affordability and accessibility. In fact, in that first €10 a day childcare plan in 2024, I ensured it was not just about affordability and accessibility, as I have done with this motion. It is about our educators … providers. If we do not get pay right in terms of our educators, we can forget about costs and about childcare places; we will have no childcare sector

would like an update on the review of the 2001 planning guidelines for local authorities on early learning and childcare settings. It is 25 years since they were set out and a lot has changed in our society, in our childcare needs and in best practice for childcare

take on board what the Minister is saying. I do not hold out much hope. Time and again, the Government has treated childcare as an afterthought. As a father of two, this is something I live with every day. Childcare costs are crippling families. I knocked on close … promise. We are talking about getting costs down. We are a long way from the €200 per month cap. The average cost of childcare is €850 per month. Ireland is an outlier in Europe. We are not moving quick enough with this. I hope to see this happening

strengthen accountability where there is repeated non-compliance with such orders and the measures in place to support working parents who experience childcare difficulties arising from the unexpected cancellation of agreed parenting arrangements. [74246/26

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the way in which she intends to deliver €200 per month childcare via core funding when this excludes parents whose provider are not in core funding; and if Government commitment to €200 per month is only

Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of parents who will benefit from the reduction of childcare fees from €735 to €550 per month. [73228/26

Deputy Cathal Crowe asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department, or Pobal, will engage with a school-age childcare service in County Clare (details supplied) regarding capital support to transition from a prefab into a modern modular facility that incorporates new preschool places

Children, Disability and Equality if her Department will review the eligibility criteria for the building blocks capital scheme to accommodate independent, school-age childcare providers operating out of leased school prefabs who are not currently enrolled in the Core Funding scheme but provide an essential service to prevent

Disability and Equality the process and criteria for selecting not-for-profit operators of facilities developed under the State-led early learning and childcare capital programme; whether selection will be conducted through open competitive procurement or another process; and the eligibility requirements for prospective operators. [73804/26

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the way in which the fee structures will operate in the sites earmarked for the State-led childcare programme. [73800/26

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on the seven sites earmarked for the State-led childcare programme; and when she envisions these units being fully operational. [73799/26

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on the independent evaluation of the national childcare scheme. [73798/26

asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans to address the situation that arises due to a lack of availability of childcare places whereby parents must join waiting lists during early pregnancy, without any guarantee of a place, and that such early application requirements create

Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the proposed fee-setting arrangements for childcare services established under the State-led capital programme; whether these services will be subject to the same maximum fee caps as existing core funding providers; and whether her Department intends

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide the estimated capital expenditure for each of the seven proposed State-led early learning and childcare projects announced on 30 September 2026, in tabular form. [73805/26

Equality whether her Department intends to develop a standardised national operating framework for facilities established under the State-led early learning and childcare capital programme; whether this framework will prescribe requirements relating to staffing, enrolment and admissions policies, parental fees, opening hours, service provision and access for children

Equality to outline the process and criteria for selecting not-for-profit operators of facilities developed under the State-led early learning and childcare capital programme; and whether selection will be conducted through open competitive procurement or another process; the eligibility requirements for prospective operators. [73803/26

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the actions she is taking to address the shortage of part-time childcare places available, forcing parents to pay for full-time fees, regardless of whether the full hours are required. [74232/26

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the position regarding any review of the national childcare scheme particularly in relation to the lack of flexibility afforded to parents who choose not to take the full-time allotted due to differing working arrangements outside

Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the reason the €550 cap for childcare refers to those receiving 48 weeks of supervision, rather than the 52 weeks that many families pay for. [74161/26

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department can provide a breakdown of how many families in Kildare, who use core funding childcare, fall into each band from A to F in tabular form. [74135/26

Deputy Joe Neville asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the plans to include band F childcare families under core funding in the €550 cap announced in Budget 2027 from September of next year. [74138/26

childminders who have registered under the new regulatory framework; the measures being taken to encourage more childminders to register and provide additional childcare capacity; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [74506/26

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the amount of funding ring-fenced in the current budget to provide additional early learning and childcare places in Cork city and Cork county; the number of additional places this funding is expected to deliver; the timeline for making these places available

that significant housing and population growth in Balbriggan, Skerries, Rush and Lusk is matched by the timely provision of supporting infrastructure, including schools, childcare, public transport, water and wastewater infrastructure and primary healthcare; and whether a mechanism exists to assess such infrastructure requirements alongside projected housing delivery

Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the actions she is taking to engage with a childcare centre (details supplied) in relation to their withdrawal from the core funding model; and the actions she will take to support parents with the knock-on price

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will address the concerns raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding the rising cost of childcare. [71588/26

facility (details supplied) will be ready to take children for preschool care, being rolled out as part of the early learning and childcare capital projects. [71784/26