Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 24 October 2024
20. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the proposals there are to provide additional childcare places in Cavan and Monaghan, taking in to account difficulties incurred by parents in obtaining placements for children; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [43432/24]
View answerImproving access to quality and affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority of Government.
My Department employs a range of approaches to identify and address shortages of early learning and childcare places in certain areas, bearing in mind the wide range of types of early learning and childcare provision offered by services and required by families.
This year, I established a Supply Management Unit within the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Division of my Department. A key part of the Supply Management Unit’s remit is to develop capacity for monitoring, analysing and forecasting the supply and demand of childcare.
Capital funding has been allocated to the early learning and childcare sector under the revised National Development Plan (NDP). This will enable significant investment in early learning and childcare. The primary focus of the Building Blocks Capacity Grant Schemes is to increase capacity in the 1-3-year-old, pre-ECCE, age range for full day care.
Under the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme, some €25 million will be available in 2025 to deliver additional capacity.
Along with these measures, Core Funding, which is in its third programme year, funds services based on the number of places available, whether or not they are filled.
This provides stability to services, and reduces the risks associated with opening a new service or expanding an already existing service. For the current programme year, I ensured that the allocation for Core Funding would be able to capture almost a 6% increase in capacity. I secured additional funding in Budget 2025 to facilitate a further 3.5% increase from September 2025, in the fourth programme year.
