country are so angry with it. It is about energy bills but it is also about exorbitant rents and mortgage costs, house prices, childcare, education and healthcare costs, waiting lists and more. It is about a budget last October that did nothing for working people. It is about
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In debates
states:
I am working with the HSE for 16 years. My paycheck goes straight to my account to pay bills, rent and childcare fees. I am in huge debt.
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste should listen to this. She also stated:
I cannot get a deposit for a mortgage
people I spoke to in County Wicklow were not necessarily talking about fuel costs; they were talking about disability services, education and childcare. they talked about their lived experience and the difficulties they are facing with energy and food costs. Those costs are piling up.
The reality
about short-term measures. There are fundamental changes needed in how we deliver public services and their affordability in transport and in childcare. These are all eating into people's weekly wages and their income.
We have a fundamental problem in this country. Our cost of living
cost-of-living crisis that is absolutely crushing people in terms of the cost of accommodation, energy price hikes, the cost of childcare and so on. It should be obvious to the Tánaiste that the Government has utterly failed to address that crisis. The demands that were made
corporate landlords, banks and the wealthiest in the country, but very little to most working families. They were promised tax cuts and childcare cost cuts that they never got. What they actually got were increases. College fees went up. People looked on as groceries and insurance costs rose
their collar by a spiralling and seemingly perpetual cost-of-living crisis that includes energy bills, rent, house prices, grocery prices, childcare costs, education costs and the cost of disability. I could go on. The frustration being aired on O’Connell Street, on the M50, in Whitegate
bills. If we look rents in Laois, there are cases of more than €2,000 month being sought in rent. One family has childcare costs of €1,400 a month. School transport fees are up and leaving certificate fees are back and being levied. This is a very
were moving to sustainable, permanent reductions in core areas; the permanent reduction in college fees, the permanent progress we want to make on childcare and making targeted interventions here as well
There is no childcare
correct but we are coming to the end of that, followed by half pay for a further three months. People have their childcare bills, their mortgages and the costs of just existing in this cost-of-living crisis. They have a lifestyle based on their pay and will
diagnosis. People are not just dealing with their illness; they are also dealing with the travel costs, car-parking charges, time off work, childcare and bills. In my own constituency, the operator of the Mater Hospital car park charges €15 a day. That is an outrageous cost
care of the State are all of our responsibility. Everybody plays a role in child protection and child welfare, from childcare settings to our schools and the workplace. It is not just Tusla. We all have a responsibility. The Department and the Minister need to step up, particularly
living crisis. The price of groceries are up, rents are up, bills are up, insurance is up, college fees are up and childcare is up. This is the reality that so many people face day in, day out throughout the State. After doing nothing to end this
should be done now.
I want to also make reference to early years educators, without whom we would not have a childcare sector. They continue to be in a situation where it is up to the JLC whether they will get a few cent here
Dublin, UCD, who was allegedly raped, drugged and photographed. The photographs and vile abuse about her circulated throughout the school.
The area of childcare needs to be addressed. Working-class women in particular face financial hardship and issues around access to help so there is still work
related legislative measure fully pass through these Houses.
Where in the name of God is the delivery of the promised plan to deliver childcare capped at €200 per month within the first 100 days of Government. For International Women's Day this year, my message to the Government
will eventually be able to buy homes, have to heat those homes. They have to feed their children. They have to access childcare and education. On every one of those indicators, the cost of living is getting increasingly unbearable. We hear in our constituency clinics
especially those at risk of fuel poverty;
- analysis undertaken by the Economic and Social Research Institute, using the Simulating Welfare, Income Tax, Childcare and Health (SWITCH) tax and benefit model, to simulate the impact of the carbon tax and the compensatory welfare package, estimates that the net impact
being here. He is well aware of the problems that have existed for a number of years. Somebody could work in a childcare facility and, at the same time, could be training juvenile athletes as well as being involved in a stage school involving young people. For each
Department is engaging with that organisation - we can say that somebody who is involved in a sporting organisation, who may be a childcare worker, primary schoolteacher or whatever else, would have one simple vetting mechanism. Is there going to be a tender for the technical system that
their budget accounted for. What they are now seeing is an avalanche of price rises coming towards them on everything from groceries and childcare costs to energy bills, and they get virtually no support from the Government. Instead, all the Government seems to do is introduce measures
Department is taking to ensure proper, safe facilities to secure an immediate return of these students to the school. Parents were left without childcare for their children today. They have waited almost 19 years for a permanent school building, and they were left with 24-hours notice about
this is an act of self-sabotage. Many of these graduates have made major financial commitments including mortgages, rents and childcare, all based on the expectation they would be given permanent jobs in their current location, not in another region across the country. Will the Tánaiste do more
process.
Deputy Louise O'Reilly - To discuss the need for a full-time Garda station in Rush.
Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan - To discuss childcare provision in Cork North-Central.
Deputy Louis O'Hara - To discuss the remaining sections of the Athenry relief road.
Deputy Barry Ward - To discuss
In parliamentary questions
Emer Currie
Written
engaged with the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to develop mechanisms through the tax system to help lower the cost of childcare for families with childminders working in the family home; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10072/26
Eoin Hayes
Written
Deputy Eoin Hayes asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the list of properties identified for refurbishment for childcare services; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9872/26
Shane Moynihan
Written
Disability and Equality the engagement her Department will have with the Land Development Agency as part of the move to State acquisition of childcare buildings; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10396/26
Claire Kerrane
Written
Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if Tullamore, County Offaly will be considered for a State led childcare facility, given the serious need which has already been evidenced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8794/26
Holly Cairns
Written
asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans for the allocation of €135 million which the Government has allocated to funded childcare facilities; the geographical areas covered; and if she will ensure that rural areas, with large distances between crèches, be adequately covered by this funding
Robert O'Donoghue
Written
that AIM Plus has a minimum allocation of one hour and does not allow rounding up in the same way as the National Childcare Scheme, resulting in children either being excluded from the additional 30 minutes or the cost of Level 7 support being borne by the provider
Barry Heneghan
Written
Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare providers that have signed up to the core funding scheme in Dublin, broken down by month for 2024 and 2025, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter
Barry Heneghan
Written
Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare providers in Dublin that have withdrawn from or declined to participate in the core funding scheme since its introduction, broken down by year, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement
Barry Heneghan
Written
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the analysis her Department has undertaken on the impact on parents who are unable to access reduced childcare fees because their provider has opted out of the core funding scheme; whether her Department can estimate the number of families affected in Dublin
Emer Currie
Written
Disability and Equality the way in which and the timeframe information will be made available in relation to the location of state-led childcare facilities being considered for acquisition as part of the new capital programme. [7338/26
Emer Currie
Written
Children, Disability and Equality whether areas in Dublin West have been identified by the Forward Planning and Delivery Unit as requiring public childcare supply; and if premises and locations (details supplied) will be considered as part of the new capital programme; and if she will make a statement
Joanna Byrne
Written
Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children currently on a waiting list in County Louth for early learning and childcare places. [6677/26
Joanna Byrne
Written
Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare places which are currently available in County Louth. [6678/26
Joanna Byrne
Written
Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare providers in County Louth signed up to Government core funding scheme in each of the years 2021 to 2025 respectively. [6680/26
Joanna Byrne
Written
Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare providers in County Louth which withdrew from the Government's core funding scheme in each of the years 2021 to 2025 respectively. [6681/26
Joanna Byrne
Written
Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare providers in County Louth which are currently signed up to the Government core funding scheme. [6682/26
Jennifer Whitmore
Written
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of new early learning and childcare providers that have opened and closed since 2020 to-date in 2026, by county, by year, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter
Jennifer Whitmore
Written
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare places available for children between the ages of one and three, from 2020 to-date in 2026, in Wicklow; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6732/26
Jennifer Whitmore
Written
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early learning and childcare providers that have pulled out of the core funding scheme since its introduction in 2021 to-date in 2026, by county, by year, in tabular form; and if she will
Jennifer Whitmore
Written
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the locations of the community childcare facilities in County Wicklow; the capacity and age groups of each; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6734/26
Jennifer Whitmore
Written
Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of community childcare facilities nationwide; the capacity and age group of each, by county, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6735/26
Brian Brennan
Written
Deputy Brian Brennan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the process by which a childcare facility would apply to be acquired by the State; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6771/26
Joanna Byrne
Written
Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to the recent media report regarding proposals to purchase “buildings that will provide childcare facilities, the provision that is proposed for County Louth in these plans; the additional supply proposed specifically for areas of disadvantage in the Drogheda
Shane Moynihan
Written
Children, Disability and Equality for an update on the development of the new forward planning model within her Department for early learning and childcare; whether any outputs or findings from the models' mapping of supply and demand are available at this stage; if such information can be shared
Shane Moynihan
Written
Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her plans to progress with State-led acquisition of childcare facilities; whether areas of high unmet demand will first be identified through forward planning and suitable premises identified thereafter, or whether identification of demand and buildings will
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