Early Childhood Care and Education

1575. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the financial breakdown of the core funding in relation to the amount of funding out of €390 million core funding that is intended for pay and graduates, in tabular form. [59503/25]

1577. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the estimated cost of the October 2025 early years pay increase through the ERO process; the estimated cost of the June 2024 early years pay increase through the ERO process; and the estimated cost of the September 2022 early years pay. [59505/25]

1578. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the estimated cost following the October 2025 increase of increasing the early years educators and managers wages by 1%, 5% and 10%, in tabular form. [59506/25]

1579. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if consideration has been given to recommendation 33 from the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth report on challenges facing the ECEC sector March 2024, to carry out commission research on the impact, benefits and disadvantages of early years and SAC wages being pai…

1580. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality based on the most up-to-date data, the total gross wages for in ratio staff and managers in early years and SAC, broken down in relation to community services and private services. [59508/25]

1581. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if data is kept in relation to ancillary staff not in the ERO; and if the total gross wages for ancillary staff in the sector will be provided. [59509/25]

1582. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the percentage of GDP spent on early years and SAC for 2025 and projected for 2026, in tabular form. [59510/25]

1583. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if it is the intention of her Department to act on recommendation 12 of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth report on the challenges facing ECEC sector (March 2025) and develop a multi-year plan to bring the spend on early years and SAC up to 1% of GDP. [59511/25…

147. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when the building blocks scheme will re-open for applications; and if funding will be available for the construction of new premises under the scheme. [57555/25]

159. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will publish a report (details supplied) on the review of processes linked to publicly funded early learning childcare schemes; if she will provide a summary of the report findings to Dáil Éireann; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57613/25]

675. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will review the terms of AIM funding to facilitate appropriate backpay for retention of relevant qualified staff following the successful receipt of advanced levels of AIM support; if she will review the possibility of reimbursing a service provider for additional costs incurred due to exceptional circumsta…

676. Deputy David Cullinane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the average time to decision in AIM funding applications, by funding level, for each year 2021-2025 to date, in tabular form. [56591/25]

712. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update on a report (details supplied) on the end-to-end processes linked to publicly funded early learning and childcare schemes/programmes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [57021/25]

318. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the plans her Department has to progressively reduce the cost of early learning and childcare to €200 per month per child during the lifetime of the Government; the proposed timeline for the roll-out of this plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56098/25]

779. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when she anticipates the new building blocks scheme will open for applications; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54949/25]

795. Deputy Joe Cooney asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the plans her Department has to progressively reduce the cost of early learning and childcare to €200 per month per child during the lifetime of the Government; if she will provide a proposed timeline for the roll-out of this plan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55380/25]

295. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on the pay increase for early childhood educators as agreed in 2024; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53991/25]

300. Deputy Shane Moynihan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has given further consideration to undertake an audit of early learning and childcare facilities, which have been granted planning permission as part of large scale residential development; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53826/25]

501. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of pre-school places operating in the years 2020 to date in 2025, according to size such as <25, 25-49, 50-74, 75-99 and 100+. [52930/25]

502. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the status of a dedicated state agency for early learning and childcare, which would undertake functions currently carried out by Pobal Early Years, the 30 City and County Childcare Committees as well as operational functions currently undertaken by her Department. [52976/25]

503. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early years and crèche services that have been withdrawn from the core funding scheme in each of the past five years, by county; and the specific measures her Department is taking to prevent further withdrawals and protect parents from fee increases. [52979/25]

504. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of early years and crèche facilities operating in Cork city and county in each of the past ten years; the net change in services over that period; and the actions being taken to address the decline in provision in Cork compared with the reported national increase. [52980/25]

520. Deputy Jen Cummins asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality when an organisation (details supplied) will be receiving their contacts for the building blocks grant scheme. [53276/25]

523. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she plans to reduce the qualifying age for the AIM programme run by her Department from two years and nine months to the age of two, given the importance of early intervention for children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53308/25]

386. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children registered for early years and school age childcare for the 2025-2026 programme year; the number which were registered for the previous three programme years; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52627/25]