Topics / Childcare Services

A subject heading for parliamentary questions

Childcare Services

1,438 questions from 125 TDs, between 22 January 2025 and 22 October 2026.

1,438
questions
1,397 written, 41 oral
125
TDs have asked
11
parties and groups
Independents counted together
8
departments asked

Questions per month

The record holds no questions for August, when the Dáil does not sit.

Jan 2025Oct 2026
Show as a table
MonthQuestions
January 202511
February 202562
March 202543
April 202571
May 202535
June 202570
July 202593
August 20250
September 202587
October 202541
November 2025155
December 202574
January 202671
February 202676
March 202655
April 202678
May 2026107
June 2026144
July 202664
August 20260
September 202638
October 202663

Who asks, by party

The party each TD belonged to on the day, in alphabetical order. Parties differ a lot in size, and members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them, so this shows who raised it, not how much a party cares about it.

  • 100% RDR2 from 1 TD · 1 seat today
  • Aontú18 from 2 TDs · 2 seats today
  • Fianna Fáil284 from 33 TDs · 48 seats today
  • Fine Gael467 from 20 TDs · 38 seats today
  • Green Party11 from 1 TD · 1 seat today
  • Independent64 from 9 TDs · 15 seats today
  • Independent Ireland43 from 2 TDs · 4 seats today
  • Labour Party152 from 11 TDs · 11 seats today
  • People Before Profit-Solidarity40 from 3 TDs · 3 seats today
  • Sinn Féin267 from 31 TDs · 39 seats today

The TDs who asked most

Members of the Government answer questions rather than ask them. Each question counts once.

  1. 130
  2. 88
  3. 70
  4. 69
  5. 47
  6. 40
  7. 36
  8. 33

Asked of

Debated under the same heading

Debates whose official heading is exactly these words.

The questions

Naoise Ó Muirí Written 22 Sep 2026 · to Children
497. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on an application (details supplied) under the building blocks extension grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66581/26]
Naoise Ó Muirí Written 22 Sep 2026 · to Children
498. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on an application (details supplied) under the building blocks extension grant; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [66580/26]
Daniel Ennis Written 22 Sep 2026 · to Children
499. Deputy Daniel Ennis asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the consultation that took place before the introduction of the revised AIM funding and payment arrangements, including the linking of AIM payments to national childcare scheme approvals; and the stakeholders that were consulted in this process. [66708/26]
John Paul O'Shea Written 22 Sep 2026 · to Children
504. Deputy John Paul O'Shea asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when the next round of funding under the building blocks capital programme will be announced. [66995/26]
Seán Ó Fearghaíl Written 22 Sep 2026 · to Children
512. Deputy Seán Ó Fearghaíl asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality If she will consider the salient points raised in correspondence (details supplied) regarding a Kildare based childcare provider who is considering exiting the service. [67032/26]
Claire Kerrane Oral 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
60. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on the eight locations for State-led childcare facilities. [66144/26]
Naoise Ó Cearúil Written 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
63. Deputy Naoise Ó Cearúil asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the progress that has been made towards the Programme for Government's commitments to further reduce childcare costs for families; the measures implemented to date to improve affordability; the planned measures to improve affordability and availability of childcare for families. [65916/26]
Edward Timmins Oral 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
65. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in the targeted plans to reduce childcare costs for parents, whether there are plans in place to review the Core funding programme to ensure that funding reflects the increasing costs faced by childcare providers and if consideration will be given to increasing funding and, where necessary, allowing providers greater flexibility to a…
Mark Wall Oral 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
68. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to give an update on the sites to be selected for the rollout of the State-led childcare pilot; and if she has considered the inclusion of County Kildare given it has one of the lowest levels of community childcare provision. [65891/26]
Keira Keogh Written 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
72. Deputy Keira Keogh asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has assessed the impact that the lack of affordable childcare could have on labour market participation, particularly among women; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65982/26]
James Geoghegan Written 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
79. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is exploring mechanisms to ease the administrative burden on childcare providers who are in core funding. [65704/26]
Emer Currie Written 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
83. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she will consider reforming the administration of the national childcare scheme to ensure that parents are not financially penalised for collecting their children early where they are paying the childcare provider for the full period booked. [65931/26]
Claire Kerrane Written 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
104. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on her consultation with childminders. [65901/26]
Paul McAuliffe Written 17 Sep 2026 · to Children
127. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide the latest update on the Programme for Government commitment to progressively reduce the cost of childcare to €200 per month per child through the national childcare scheme; and the way in which she intends to address the issue of afterschool childcare places. [65804/26]
Emer Currie Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1009. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether full-day crèches in core funding are subject to minimum hours to assist parents in drop-offs and pick-ups when they work full-time, as some crèches are open from 8.30am to 5.30pm so parents cannot use them. [64174/26]
Daniel Ennis Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1015. Deputy Daniel Ennis asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the sanctions that have been imposed on childcare providers found to be in breach of core funding fee-freeze rules. [64365/26]
Daniel Ennis Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1016. Deputy Daniel Ennis asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare providers that have been subject to fee reviews under Core Funding in each year since the introduction of the national fee review team; the number of breaches identified; and the nature of those breaches. [64364/26]
Daniel Ennis Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1017. Deputy Daniel Ennis asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any childcare providers have been required to refund parents following findings that they overcharged families in breach of core funding rules; and if so, the total value of refunds issued. [64366/26]
Jennifer Whitmore Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1019. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of childcare providers operating from publicly funded school premises that do not participate in the national childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [64512/26]
Mark Ward Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1021. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the supports that will be available to parents if their childcare facility withdraws from core funding and prices go up as a result; and the steps she will take to address this issue. [64590/26]
Barry Ward Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1034. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the mechanisms in place to engage with childcare providers that indicate they plan to withdraw from the core funding scheme. [64942/26]
Claire Kerrane Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1040. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she is aware of continued frustration among childcare providers regarding the use of the HIVE system (details supplied) and the impact this administrative burden has on busy providers; and if she will commit to reduce such a burden. [65040/26]
Michael Cahill Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1084. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide a progress report on the provision of childcare facilities at the former convent in Listowel, County Kerry, and timeframe for final decisions on applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [65770/26]
Michael Healy-Rae Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1088. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will examine opening a childcare facility in a vacant school in north Kerry (details supplied). [65892/26]
Emer Currie Written 16 Sep 2026 · to Children
1090. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality her position on two recent applications to reduce the size of an associated creche space in a residential development (details supplied) in the context of the Programme for Government commitment to review the 2001 childcare facilities guidelines for planning authorities to ensure childcare spaces are provided and put to use. [65800/26]