Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 May 2023
690. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the total of additional 0-2-year-old baby/toddler places created in early years services in 2022, per unit. [24432/23]
View answerThe availability of high-quality early learning and childcare is a key Government priority. My Department monitors early learning and childcare capacity on an ongoing basis, with a particular focus on responding to the unmet early learning and childcare needs of families.
The annual data captured by Pobal on behalf of my Department - through the Early Years Sector Profile Survey - is one important data source that allows us to monitor supply and demand. In addition to this survey data, the Department also relies on data from the register of services held by Tusla, data provided by services as part of their application for Core Funding and has also conducted several surveys with parents. Since 2020, five parent surveys have been undertaken by Ipsos MRBI on behalf of the Department.
Based on data captured through the Early Years Sector Profile Surveys 2020/22 (gathered in Spring 2021 with a response rate of 57%) and 2021/22 (gathered in Spring 2022 with a response rate of 82.5%) – extrapolated to take account of all services– the number of places for children aged 0-2 increased by 3% over this period. Data collection for the Early Years Sector Profile 2022/23 is currently underway and will give an updated position.
Separately, initial analysis of data captured though Core Funding applications shows increased capacity in high-demand areas relative to supply, including more baby and toddler places.
Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) for assistance. Contact details for CCCs may be found on www.myccc.ie.
