Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
92. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if she will provide an update on the programme for Government commitment to provide capital investment to build or purchase State-owned childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [72947/25]
View answerThe 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.
As announced in November, the NDP has committed €197m over the next five years for early learning and childcare which will include investment in new buildings through the State-led early learning and childcare programme and investment in expansion of existing early learning and childcare operators through the Building Blocks scheme as well as other quality initiatives.
State-led provision – complementing private, community and childminding provision – will allow the Department to respond to market failure, creating additional capacity in areas or types of service where unmet demand exists. This new development will also ensure long-term use of capital assets for their intended purpose and greater security of supply, and through reducing the vulnerability of supply through over reliance on specific kinds of provision.
The focus in the State-led services will be on services to meet demand for affordable, accessible, high quality early learning and childcare that is not otherwise being delivered, including on full day provision particularly for younger children. Up to eight new services will be acquired over the course of 2026.
Preparatory work for this programme of capital investment well advanced, with the multi-year programme planned to commence from 2026 onwards. A detailed plan will go to Government in the new year.
A number of models of ownership and delivery are intended to be trialled in the early part of the capital programme. A number of specific sites are under active consideration by officials although no definitive decisions have yet been made. The number of places provided at each facility, and the time that they will be available from, will vary depending on a number of site-specific factors.
