Early Childhood Care and Education
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-17
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Keira Keogh (FG), Mayo

I thank the Minister. I welcome the increase in enrolments. I am really thinking about my own county of Mayo. Even when we have increases in the national childcare scheme, and I hear about these great subsidies, I know many parents in my county are not able to access them. The last data I got was that we only have one registered private childminder in the whole county. There has been a bit of an uptake on the pre-registration course, with the deadline of September 2027 approaching, but after that course there has not been a sign-up.
I am very concerned that right now we only have one registered childminder. People are already struggling to find a place with a private childminder or within a centre, and now we have this looming deadline coming in September. I am extremely concerned. What I want to see addressed is the potential crisis with private childminders if they do not start registering soon. In relation to State-led childcare, in my own area, because we are focusing more on the voluntary boards of management and the community-led element, we do not have any proposals in that area yet for Ballina.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-17/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-17