Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-29
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

-----which was, quite rightly from his perspective, a view in relation to Laois having a need for this. I thank the Deputy for his acknowledgement that this is a positive policy direction. I am eager that the State invests directly in trying to acquire public space to provide capacity. We rightly have debates in this House about reducing childcare fees. We have a clear view on where we want to get to over the lifetime of the Government. Alongside that, we are going to need places and capacity and to support staff. We have identified that money. There will be an exercise done in identifying areas in which there is a need for that intervention. I am sure there will be many such areas. The Deputy has obviously made his case for Laois. I will ask the Minister to consider those matters and link with the Deputy.
We will see increases in simplification this year. One of the big bugbears we are hearing from childcare providers is the amount of bureaucracy. We need to cut that back. In September, we will also see reductions in childcare fees for the 47,000 lowest-income families.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-29/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:34+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-29