Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 February 2025
902. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of new childcare places that have been opened in Louth for the years 2020 to 2025 respectively. [2231/25]
View answer903. Deputy Joanna Byrne asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of childcare providers that have closed in Louth; and the childcare places that have been lost as a result of closures in Louth in each of the years 2020 to 2025. [2232/25]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 902 and 903 together.
Tusla, the independent statutory regulator for early years services, including pre-school, childminding and school age services, is responsible for maintaining the register of services under the Child Care Act 1991. Where an early years service ceases operation, the registered provider is required by law to advise Tusla of this and the service will then be removed from the public register. Tusla provides my Department with the verified figures on closures and new service openings a month in arrears. This allows time for verification. The most recent available figures are therefore up to the end of December 2024.
Data provided from Tusla on service registrations in Louth are detailed in the following table and shows the number of pre-school and school age services that opened from January 2020 to December 2024 as well as the number of services that ceased operation in Louth over the same time-period.
|
- |
New |
Ceased |
||
|
Louth |
Pre-school |
School age |
Pre-school |
School age |
|
2020 |
2 |
16 |
2 |
0 |
|
2021 |
1 |
37 |
4 |
2 |
|
2022 |
2 |
7 |
6 |
1 |
|
2023 |
1 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
|
2024 |
3 |
6 |
3 |
3 |
|
TOTAL |
9 |
67 |
17 |
6 |
From January 2020 to December 2024, a total of 9 pre-school services and 67 school age services opened in Louth. This compares to 17 pre-school closures and 6 school aged closures in the same period.
In any year, it is normal for a number of services to open and close. In terms of closures, there is considerable diversity in the reasons given for closure by providers, nationally. While some services state they closed for financial reasons, many state they closed for other reasons (e.g. retirement of the owner/manager, property related, availability of staff, and reduction in child numbers). Information on reasons for closure is self-reported and is not verified by Tusla.
Data provided by Pobal uses a snapshot date of 30 November for each year.
Number of ELC and SAC places in services that have been opened and services that have closed in Louth for the years 2020 to 2024:
|
- |
||||||
|
New services |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
No of unique children attending the new services on 30 November |
63 |
92 |
244 |
47 |
52 |
498 |
|
Closed services |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
Total |
|
No of unique children who were attending the closed services on 30 November previous |
159 |
62 |
68 |
24 |
158 |
471 |
My Department has a range of supports in place to avert closures and to work with providers and stakeholders to avoid closures where possible. Through a case management process, City/County Childcare Committees and Pobal work together to assess and provide support to ELC and SAC services experiencing difficulties. This support focuses on operational as well as financial supports to assist services to manage their immediate difficulties and transition to a more sustainable model of delivery.
