Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 October 2025
392. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will prioritise the provision of community based, not-for-profit early education and school age childcare services in public buildings, such as schools, over corporate, for-profit providers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52672/25]
View answerImproving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government.
Currently approximately a quarter of all early learning and childcare provision is delivered by not-for-profit operators and three quarters by for-profit operators. For-profit operators range from sole traders and partnerships to much larger scale multi site operations.
In 2025, €25m in voted expenditure was made available for the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme to allow services to extend, construct or purchase new premises. The scheme was heavily weighted towards not-for-profit providers and, of the 50 projects approved for funding, 43 of which were not-for-profit community services.
Guidance on making available school buildings for early learning and childcare and other community uses is provided by the Department of Education and Youth in Procedures on use of school buildings and sports facilities outside of school hours published last year. In making available its facilities, the guidance asks schools to be conscious of their school's position in the community and the support provided by the community in the provision and maintenance of the facilities. The guidance notes that early learning and childcare provision in schools may be delivered by a commercial entity or a community not-for-profit group, with different considerations applying in each instance. Supporting the provision of after-school childcare in particular is strongly encouraged.
The Programme for Government commits to working with schools to host before and after-school care, and examine start-up supports for groups involved in after-school activities. The Programme for Government also contains a commitment to plan the development of State-led facilities in tandem with the school building programme, including Irish medium naíonraí. The potential for development of State-led facilities in tandem with the school building programme will be considered as part of the wider capital plans to develop State-led services.
The Programme for Government commits for the first time to provide capital investment to build or purchase state-owned early learning and childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. State ownership of facilities is a very substantial and significant development and offers the potential for much greater scope to influence the nature and volume of provision available and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand. This work will be supported through capital investment under the revised National Development Plan 2026-30.
The approach more widely to ensuring appropriate levels of early learning and childcare supply is being considered by my Department and will be further articulated in the context of the Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system that Government has committed to publishing.
