There is not a week that goes by that I am not contacted by a parent seeking access to childcare. On Monday, 1,500 new childcare places were announced nationally, funded under the national development plan's building blocks extension grant scheme. These places, at a cost of €25 million, include 18 much-needed places in Dublin West. This Government is delivering but it needs to keep delivering. Given the scale of unmet need, 18 places are a drop in the ocean. The programme for Government commits to providing capital investment to build or purchase State-owned childcare facilities. To do that at scale and to achieve value for money, I believe we need a new State building scheme specifically for childcare, something that does for childcare facilities what design and build has done for school buildings. The private sector has played a vital role for years in delivering childcare in our communities but reliance on the private sector alone will never deliver the capacity we need for children's early learning and to enable parents, primarily women, to stay in work. A sum of €45 million has been allocated under the NDP for additional capacity in childcare over the last three years. The education capital budget for 2025 alone was €1.4 billion. That is €45 million versus €1,400 million. If we are serious about changing the delivery of childcare places for local communities, our ambition should be reflected in the upcoming review of the national development plan. We have a model for building childcare facilities already, but it is not working. Under planning authority guidelines for childcare facilities from 2001, 20 childcare places should be delivered for every 75 new dwellings but that scale of delivery is not happening because developers are allowed to claim that a new facility is not required, even in areas of overwhelming need such as Dublin West, or a developer is only required to provide a shell of a building, often resulting in buildings that are not fit for purpose or are hopelessly expensive and regular childcare providers cannot purchase them. Some of them have lain empty for years in my constituency even though providers are crying out for space. Those guidelines fall across the two Departments of housing and children. We were previously promised a review and we are still waiting. The longer we wait, the more we miss out on the delivery of new childcare facilities in line with the delivery of new housing. Will the Taoiseach give an update on these interlinked issues, the review of local guidelines, Government plans for State-led childcare and the potential for a new State building scheme for children, parents and the economy?
Sentiment score: -0.07
I am the first to say there has been progress, but serious issues remain with capacity, access and core funding that need to be fixed. Today, I am hosting local childcare providers and parents in the audiovisual room. We will focus on a payscale that reflects qualifications and expertise, pressures they are facing with recruitment, making core funding work, especially for small providers and how paperwork and bureaucracy are suffocating the sector. There are major holes for parents and providers in the fee adjustment that was introduced last year. I refer to the local independent provider who has not raised her fees in eight years and is struggling to survive and who was granted an increase of just €4 per month when others in the area charge €200 to €300 more, and to the parent who was on enhanced subsidies, not universal subsidies, whose fees were increased overall last year. The programme for Government recognises these challenges-----
Sentiment score: 0.03
-----as has the Taoiseach when I have raised them, but they want to hear from the Government about now-----
Sentiment score: 0.12
-----not just about the future. They want to get back to building partnerships, starting with really listening.
Sentiment score: 0.04