Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 23 April 2026
151. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if her Department has overspent on the research and development project on a National Childcare Agency; and if she will outline amount of overspent. [28590/26]
View answerA competitive process was undertaken by the Department in order to procure business and management consultancy services in relation to the planning and design phase of the National Early Learning and Childcare Agency. The Department engaged independent consultants Indecon in December 2023, to undertake this phase of wok. The total fixed project fee for the term of the contract awarded was €351,104, inclusive of VAT. This was the amount paid out to the successful contractor in relation to the work on this phase of the project.
All other spend including the cost of staging 13 consultation events throughout the country, facilitation services and summary findings provided by Thinkpeople, 13 Programme Oversight Board meetings and other ancillary costs related to the project accounts for the remainder of the total spend which was €617,000.
In each year of the work on the project, the spending levels have been under the allocated budget for that year.
