Written Answers Nos. 803-822
803. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childminders who have completed the pre-registration course through the county and city childcare committees to date in 2026, by month, in tabular form. [45827/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe regulation of childminding services is critical to the safeguarding of children. The route to registration under the new regulations requires childminders to undertake pre-registration training, as well as meeting certain regulatory requirements including Garda vetting, proof of insurance, first aid certification and child safeguarding training.
The pre-registration training provides all the information that childminders need to understand what is required to apply to register, and explains the registration process.
Supports are available for childminders at local level through the City and County Childcare Committees. Each City and County Childcare Committee employs a Childminding Development Officer, who provides a range of supports to local childminders, including the short pre-registration training course.
As of end-April 2026, 773 childminders have completed the Pre-Registration Training. Of those, 231 completed the training in 2024, and 403 in 2025. The table below provides a breakdown of the number of childminders who have completed Pre-Registration Training per month in 2026:
|
Month |
No. of Childminders completed pre-registration training |
|
January |
32 |
|
February |
52 |
|
March |
38 |
|
April |
17 |
|
Total |
139 |
804. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childminders who have completed the children first course as part of the childminding registration process to date in 2026, by month, in tabular form. [45828/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 set out a pathway for the extension of regulation to childminders. The childminding-specific Regulations, which came into effect in September 2024, are designed to be proportionate and appropriate to the home and family setting in which childminders work.
The regulation of childminding services is critical to the safeguarding of children. The route to registration under the new regulations requires childminders to undertake pre-registration training, as well as meeting certain regulatory requirements including Garda vetting, proof of insurance, first aid certification and child safeguarding training.
We are currently in a 3-year transition period, to September 2027, during which childminders are being encouraged and supported to register, but registration is not yet mandatory. This phased approach aims to facilitate the largest possible number of childminders to enter the regulated sector, the sphere of quality assurance, and access to Government subsidies, while recognising the time and supports required for childminders to learn about and prepare for registration.
As of end-April 2026, 175 childminders were registered with Tusla. All 175 have completed the ‘Introduction to Children First’ e-learning programme, uploading their certificate of completion as part of the registration process. This universal e-learning programme was developed by Tusla, the Department of Children, Equality and Disability and the Health Service Executive to support people of all backgrounds and experience in recognising concerns about children and reporting such concerns if they arise. The e-learning programme is available on []www.tusla.ie/.
The breakdown of childminders who have completed registration processes, to date in 2026, by month, can be found in the table below:
|
Month |
Number of Childminders |
|
January |
39 |
|
February |
6 |
|
March |
10 |
|
April |
2 |
805. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childminders who are now fully registered to date in 2026, by county. [45829/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe National Action Plan for Childminding 2021-2028 set out a pathway for the extension of regulation to childminders. As a result of the commencement of the relevant parts of the Child Care (Amendment) Act 2024 and the Childminding Services Regulations, which came into effect on 30 September 2024, childminders are now able to apply to register with Tusla.
As of end-April 2026, 175 childminders were registered with Tusla. The breakdown of registered childminders per county can be found in the table below:
|
County |
Number of Registered Childminders |
|
Carlow |
4 |
|
Cavan |
6 |
|
Clare |
7 |
|
Cork |
17 |
|
Donegal |
8 |
|
Dublin |
36 |
|
Galway |
12 |
|
Kerry |
9 |
|
Kildare |
4 |
|
Kilkenny |
4 |
|
Laois |
7 |
|
Leitrim |
2 |
|
Limerick |
22 |
|
Longford |
2 |
|
Mayo |
1 |
|
Meath |
10 |
|
Offaly |
1 |
|
Roscommon |
2 |
|
Sligo |
2 |
|
Tipperary |
5 |
|
Waterford |
2 |
|
Westmeath |
7 |
|
Wexford |
3 |
|
Wicklow |
2 |
|
Total |
175 |
806. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether funding under the early learning and care and school-age childcare schemes will continue to be paid to early education and care services that are required to close temporarily due to a water outage, where the service cannot operate in compliance with Tusla regulations (details supplied) because of the lack of water supply; whether any specific financial supports are available in such circumstances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45834/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAny service forced to close due to a water outage may apply for the continuation of my Departments funding under force majeure as per the rules governing the early learning and care funded schemes.
Force Majeure allows a party to suspend or terminate the performance of its obligations when certain circumstances beyond their control arise. The Department is under no obligation to fund ‘Force Majeure’ days and does so at its own discretion.
A condition of Force Majeure is that staff wages are paid for the duration of the Force Majeure incident. The Scheme Administrator may ask for proof that the staff’s wages have been paid before granting a Force Majeure claim.
There are also special supports available from the Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability. These supports can be accessed through the local City or County Childcare Committee (CCC). This support can take the form of assisting services with interpreting analysis of staff ratios and cash flow, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to individual circumstances.
I encourage any service experiencing financial difficulty, and who would like support, to contact their City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) to access case management supports. Contact details for the CCCs can be found at gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/city-and-county-childcare-committees.
807. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether she is satisfied that Tusla’s National Corporate Risk Register does not contain an explicit strategic risk relating to the agency’s reliance on privately provided residential care placements; whether consideration has been given since 2020 to including such a risk on the register; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45835/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Deputy will be aware that Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, is an operationally independent body and is responsible for its own governance arrangements, including the maintenance of its National Corporate Risk Register. Matters relating to the detail of risks recorded on that register are therefore operational in nature for Tusla. Tusla operates under a formal organisational risk management framework approved by its Board.
Under the Oversight Agreement in place between the Department and Tusla I am satisfied that the risks associated with capacity, placement availability and service delivery are considered within Tusla’s overall risk management and governance framework. The Department continues to engage with Tusla to ensure that risks across the care system, including those relating to capacity and service provision, are appropriately identified, monitored and managed.
I trust this information is helpful to the Deputy.
808. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether any regional, area, operational, service-level or directorate risk register maintained by Tusla currently contains a risk relating to the financial, procurement, governance, safeguarding, capacity or market-dependency implications of privately provided residential care placements; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45836/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
809. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the expenditure incurred by Tusla on privately provided residential care placements in each year from 2020 to 2025 and to date in 2026; the proportion of all residential care expenditure represented by such placements in each year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45837/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
810. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla has established a quantified target to reduce the proportion of children in State-funded care placed with private residential childcare providers; the baseline percentage against which progress is being measured; the target percentage to be achieved; the target year for achievement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45838/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
811. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether Tusla has produced a business case, implementation plan, capacity model, workforce plan or other strategic document setting out how dependency on private residential childcare placements will be reduced; whether such documents contain annual milestones for the period 2026 to 2030; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45839/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
812. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether reliance on private residential childcare placements has been assessed as a strategic, financial, operational or governance risk by Tusla since 2020; whether this issue has been considered for inclusion on Tusla’s National Corporate Risk Register; whether any formal risk assessment has been completed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45840/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
813. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if there are plans to remove childcare facilities who are not in receipt of core funding, from ECCE and the national childcare scheme, given concerns have been raised by providers in relation to this; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45888/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraCore Funding is a supply-side grant to early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs. It is designed to promote affordability for parents and sustainability for providers through increased funding to the sector, paid on a consistent and equitable basis.
As Core Funding is an optional scheme, providers have the autonomy to withdraw from or choose not to participate in the scheme.
While the State cannot mandate providers to participate in the scheme, Core Funding has been designed with maximum participation of providers in mind as reflected in the year-on-year growth of investment in the Scheme (rising from €259 million in 2022 to over €390 million in 2025). This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding in three years.
Core Funding has enjoyed high participation from the sector since its launch in September 2022.
As of 5 June, 4,648 services are contracted to Core Funding in programme year 2025/2026, which is 93.3% of all eligible services. Over 70% of services who left the scheme at one point have returned to the Scheme. 335 eligible services are currently not participating. These services are welcome to join Core Funding at any stage. The Department/CCC can support services with further information on how to join.
Currently, services that provide the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme and/or the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) are not required to take part in Core Funding, reducing the impact of the NCS as some families are not benefiting from the fee-control measures (fee-freeze and fee caps) or additional funding for quality provision that is provided by Core Funding. This will also be the case for the coming programme year 2026/2027.
To deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to progressively reduce parental fees to €200 per month, the Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future states that a roadmap will be set out in Phase 2 to ensure that all publicly funded providers are supported to take part in Core Funding.
As noted in the Phase 1 report, this will include measures to reduce the administrative burden for providers of participating in publicly funded schemes.
In relation to concerns over the impacts, it is anticipated that the supports provided will result in an increase in the proportion of eligible services that are taking part in Core Funding, which will in turn increase the proportion of families who benefit from the fee-controls (fee-freeze and fee-caps) that are conditions of Core Funding, as well as benefiting providers through supporting their sustainability. It should also bring benefits to early years educators, SAC practitioners and children through extending the reach of the additional public funding and measures to promote quality and access in services.
Phase 2 of Shaping the Future is in development and will be published by year end.
814. Deputy Pádraig Rice asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to confirm if the Head Of Disability Services in HSE Dublin Midlands has been stood down; if recruitment for a replacement has begun; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45898/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question refers to the service matters, I have requested the Health Service Executive (HSE) to respond to the Deputy directly, as soon as possible.
815. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of children placed by Tusla with foster families through private-for-profit foster care agencies in each of the past five years, tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45919/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
816. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total amount of public money paid by Tusla to private-for-profit foster care agencies that place children with foster families in each of the past five years, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45920/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
817. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the name of all private-for-profit companies and agencies used by Tusla to place children with foster families during each of the past five years; the number of children placed through each company; and the amount paid to each company in each year concerned; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45921/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
818. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the percentage of all foster family placements arranged through private-for-profit foster care agencies in each of the past five years, as distinct from placements arranged directly through Tusla foster carers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45922/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
819. Deputy Mattie McGrath asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the average annual cost to the State, per child, of placements arranged through private-for-profit foster care agencies that place children with foster families, compared with the average annual cost per child of placements arranged directly through Tusla foster carers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45923/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this question relates to operational information held by Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, the question has been referred to the Agency to reply directly to the Deputy.
820. Deputy Réada Cronin asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to address the shortage of afterschool childcare places in north Kildare; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45956/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraImproving access to quality and affordable Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare is a key priority of Government.
Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2024/25 shows that the estimated number of enrolments increased by approximately 25% from the 2021/22 programme year.
This is particularly the case with school age childcare services. Estimated enrolments in school-age childcare, based on Sector Profile data, have grown by 77% over the last three years.
However, it appears that demand for early learning and childcare remains higher than available supply in certain parts of the country, particularly for younger children.
The Department continues to support the ongoing development and resourcing of Core Funding which has given rise to a significant expansion of places since the scheme was first introduced. Core Funding, which is in its fourth programme year, funds services based on the number of places available.
This provides stability to services, and reduces the risk associated with opening a new service or expanding an already existing service.
The Government is also supporting the expansion of capacity through capital funding. The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme is designed to increase capacity in the 1–3-year-old, pre–Early Childhood Care and Education, age range for full day care. Core Funding Partner Services could apply for capital funding to physically extend their premises or to construct or purchase new premises. The Scheme will deliver up to 1,500 full-day care places for 1- to 3-year-olds.
Following on from the success of the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme, a further Building Blocks scheme is now open for applications. This round of capital funding will focus on funding extensions to existing premises to allow for increased numbers of children to be offered places on a full-time basis. Community and private providers who are currently Core Funding partner services will be eligible to apply for this scheme. Details can be found here: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/building-blocks-extension-scheme-phase-2/.
Separately, I recently announced €135 million of capital investment over the coming five years for State-led services to provide high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare. The process will begin in 2026 with investment in buildings in what will be a ground-breaking initiative.
Up to eight buildings will be selected for investment this year. The State-led initiative will provide thousands of places up to 2030.
The Department also funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees, which provide support and assist families and early learning and childcare providers. The network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees across the country can assist in identifying vacant places in services for children and families who need them and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.
Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance. The contact details for the Kildare County Childcare Committee may be found at www.kccc.ie/.
821. Deputy Conor Sheehan asked the Minister for Health the reason Skyclarys is not included on the agenda for the upcoming HSE drugs group meeting; if this drug will be put on the agenda for this meeting; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44885/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra830. Deputy Eoghan Kenny asked the Minister for Health if her Department has further considered the inclusion of Skyclarys (omaveloxolone) as of June 2026, which is a treatment for Friedreich's ataxia in a reimbursement scheme given the cost of the drug and the fact that other European countries provide this scheme to patients; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44904/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra838. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Health the steps she will take to ensure that the HSE recognises and responds to the time-critical nature of Friedreich's ataxia during the current price negotiations for Skyclarys; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44928/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra857. Deputy James Geoghegan asked the Minister for Health to review correspondence (details supplied) [45010/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra877. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Health if she will ensure Skyclarys is covered by the HSE as it is the only drug approved to treat Friedreich's ataxia; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45121/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra929. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Health for an update on the reimbursement process for Skyclarys for persons living with Friedreich’s ataxia; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45289/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 821, 830, 838, 857, 877 and 929 together.
Under the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013, the Health Service Executive (HSE) has statutory responsibility for decisions on the pricing and reimbursement of medicines. The HSE is assessing the pricing and reimbursement application for omaveloxolone (Skyclarys®) in line with the criteria detailed in legislation.
The HSE received a commercial proposal on the 27th May 2026 from the company Biogen(Idec)Ireland Limited.
Following the conclusion of commercial negotiations, applications are progressed via the Drugs Group who will make a recommendation to the HSE Senior Leadership Team who have final decision making authority on whether to reimburse a medicine.
No decision has been made by the HSE Senior Leadership Team, which has final statutory decision making authority for the reimbursement of medicines in line with the Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act 2013.
Medicines are brought forward for consideration at Drugs Group in line with the progression of commercial engagements and the receipt of finalised proposals, ensuring an orderly and fair process for all applications.
The HSE will continue to assess and progress the application as efficiently as possible. As this application remains under consideration with the HSE and the HSE cannot make any comment on possible outcomes from the ongoing process.
822. Deputy Pearse Doherty asked the Minister for Health the reason a patient (details supplied) in County Donegal has been waiting for three weeks for transfer from Letterkenny University Hospital, for urgent life-saving surgery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [44887/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs this is a service matter, it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for attention and direct reply to the Deputy.
