In respect of addressing the challenges of the sector, there have been extensive commitments by the Minister to address the long-standing challenges in the early learning and childcare sector, including the following: an increase to more than €1 billion per annum in State funding for the sector, reaching the investment target set in 2018 - five full years ahead of schedule; a reduction in out-of-pocket costs of early learning and childcare for families; and an increase to pay and improved conditions for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners. The reality is that if I had Billie in childcare and was also trying to get Lacey into childcare, I would not be able to afford to work in Dublin and pay childcare as well as the rest of my bills.
Key terms by TF-IDF across 7,652 words from 12 speakers. The summary quotes the highest-scoring sentences verbatim — nothing is paraphrased.
Tellers: Tá, Senators Seán Kyne and Erin McGreehan; Níl, Senators Marie Sherlock and Mark Wall.
| Question | Result | Tá–Níl |
|---|---|---|
| Question put: "That the Order of Business be agreed to." | Carried | 29–7 |
| Amendment put: | Carried | 31–8 |
| Question put: "That section 44 stand part of the Bill." | Carried | 34–4 |
| Question put: "That section 99 stand part of the Bill." | Carried | 30–6 |
Party shown is the one each member held on 2022-12-07, frozen by a dated join — not their party today. The Oireachtas API publishes no date of birth and returns an empty gender field for every member in this period, so no age or gender breakdown is shown.