Ceisteanna ó Cheannairí - Leaders' Questions
Dail Éireann — 2026-01-21
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Mary Lou McDonald (SF), Dublin Central

Unaffordable fees are crippling families. Parents, in many cases, pay the equivalent of a mortgage each month. Across the State, as the Taoiseach knows, there are nearly 50,000 children on waiting lists denied a childcare place. Many parents find themselves relying on family members to mind their children while they are at work. Some are forced to cut back on their hours or consider leaving their jobs entirely. Now we hear that mounting cost pressures have seen nearly 1,000 early childcare facilities close their doors over the past six years.
The Government committed to reviewing core funding to operators but that has not happened and it has had devastating consequences. Of course, it is just another promise broken by the Government. The news of these childcare closures will come as no surprise to the tens of thousands of parents desperately seeking a childcare place for their child but it will add to their stress. The childcare crisis is one of capacity but it is also one of affordability and the Government has done a very poor job of tackling these persistent issues. The job of government is to build a strong, sustainable childcare system that is affordable and that is good for children, good for society and good for an economy where people can have a good work and family life. However, the Government has not shown any ambition, vision or urgency to deliver this childcare system that working families so desperately need. The Taoiseach has known for a very long time that the Government needs to invest in buildings and sites to increase childcare spaces but it has dithered, it has delayed and now we have tens of thousands of children waiting.
The big problem is that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are very good on promises but very bad when it comes to delivery. The Taoiseach promised a roadmap to €200 per month childcare within the first 100 days of his Government. Parents waited more than 300 days and what they got was a rehashed pledge to deliver an affordability roadmap sometime between 2027 and 2029. Children needing a childcare space now will have started school by then. Does the Taoiseach really think that hard-pressed parents can wait another two or possibly three years before the Government even produces a plan to cut their childcare bill and wait longer for its delivery? More children in primary school-----

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-01-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-31T01:00:51+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-01-21