Childcare Services
Dail Éireann — 2025-11-12
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Norma Foley (FF), Kerry

I concede that childminders are hugely important and make a very significant contribution to caring for children right across communities, even in rural communities. I am very familiar with the extraordinary benefit childminders provide.
The Department has committed to a review as part of the transition period. That will commence in 2026.
Supports are available to childminders from the city and county childcare committees. Each city and county childcare committee has been funded by the Department to ensure that it has a childminding development officer who is on the ground and available to support childminders with any questions they might have or supports they might require in terms of pre-registration training courses or anything at all of that nature.
The childminding development grant provides up to €1,000 to assist both registered and unregistered childminders who are providing a childminding service in their own homes. In 2025, the Department has paid €413,338 to childminders through the childminding development grant. A further round of the grant will be paid in 2026.
I have not forgotten the point the Deputy has raised about the question of commercial rates and so on. I am engaged on that with the Minister for housing.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-11-12/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:05+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-12