Childcare: Motion
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-23
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Anne Rabbitte (FF), Nominated by the Taoiseach

The Minister is very welcome to the House. I am glad to make an opening contribution and I want to acknowledge that State investment in early learning and childcare has more than doubled, with approximately €1.5 billion in 2026. Budget 2026 provided €1.48 billion for early learning and childcare, supporting the national childcare scheme, ECCE, the access and inclusion model and core funding.
Childcare goes beyond crèche- or centre-based childcare provisions. I agree with Senator O'Loughlin that it is also the after-schools and childminders. The number of childminders has dwindled over the years. I do not wish to fly a kite in the House this evening but we need to double the tax incentive for childminders at home. We give them a tax incentive of €14,000 but we need to look way beyond that to get more childminders into provision of services. People have different working hours. There are flexible working hours and people on shift duties. The childminder provides a home from home and a flexible experience. Many of the childcare centres operate Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. or 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., but parents, including nurses and gardaí, need a lot of flexibility.
The Minister's portfolio includes disability as well. Could we support the centres in expanding the access and inclusion model, AIM? It has been phenomenal in its role of getting children accustomed to going to crèche and preparing them for the school experience. At the other end of it in after-schools, could we encourage providers to open their doors more so mums or dads might not have to choose to finish at 3 p.m. when a child finishes? If there was that flexibility, a parent could do the normal working day. The Minister is doing phenomenal work in the Department. This is a brief she takes very seriously. She works closely with the sector on it. We need to look beyond centre-based childcare, focus on childminders and think about how we could expand AIM.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-23