Childcare Services
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-21
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Pádraig O'Sullivan (FF), Cork North-Central

You have, to be fair. It was after the flooding. The Minister of State is familiar with it. In the last 15 or 20 years, there has been unprecedented development of residential housing there. In the current city development plan proposals, further residential zoning is earmarked. Recently, the Minister, Deputy Foley, announced €135 million for State-led early learning and childcare services. It is a very welcome scheme and, in time, will prove to be a landmark announcement if we build upon it.
I stand here today to make the case for Glanmire and why it needs to be among the first tranche to benefit from the announcement. As I said, Glanmire is rapidly growing. Over the past decade, it has seen significant growth and, with recent zoning, the population is forecast to double in the next ten years, yet its childcare infrastructure has not kept pace. In Glanmire, I can count at least four premises that were designated for childcare services that were never delivered, specifically because of the non-enforcement of planning conditions by the local authority. More recently, we face the further closure of another two settings, which exacerbates problems locally. This is a barrier to work in some cases but, most importantly, it is detrimental to the well-being of our children.
The Government's forward-planning unit has acknowledged the need to focus on areas where childcare places have not kept pace with housing development. We have built 157,000 homes nationally since 2020, but the community in Glanmire is feeling the strain of that housing development. The State-led programme will step up and step in where the need is greatest targeting areas with unmet demand and low levels of existing childcare. Glanmire ticks that box. It has growing demand, limited existing community provision and families who would benefit enormously from an affordable, high-quality facility run on a not-for-profit basis. Again, Glanmire ticks that box. The initial phase of the programme will acquire and refurbish places that can provide in excess of 100 childcare places and facilities that can open in late 2026 or early 2027. Again, Glanmire ticks that box. I recently brought Cork City Childcare to Glanmire, with the owner of a proposed building and a proposed proprietor. It reckons that it can deliver up to 150 affordable childcare places in that building.
The majority of the criteria were laid out in the Minister’s announcement some months ago. Glanmire ticks the majority of the boxes. I am sure that other Deputies will make the same pleas over the coming months in pitching for this €135 million fund. I know we will not be able to satisfy everybody's demands, but I am trying to put forward the case for Glanmire. I heard initial feedback that it is expected the scheme will be oversubscribed. In many ways, that is indicative of the demand that is out there. However, we are talking about hard-pressed, working families, especially in the context of the last few weeks, many of whom feel disenfranchised and feel that we could do more for them. This is particularly the case where young families are just trying to send their children to affordable childcare while they go about their daily business. As I said, I believe Glanmire can put its best foot forward. I hope it is given due consideration in the coming months.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-21/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-21T01:01:08+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-21