Dáil Éireann Debate, Monday - 11 September 2017
1699. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will report on the promised assessment of the economic costing of childcare services; and the timeframe for completion of this work. [38996/17]
View answerI understand that the Deputy is referring to the 'Independent Review of the Cost of Delivering Quality Childcare' which will be commissioned in the coming weeks. Once commissioned there will be a 10-month deadline to deliver findings. Officials in my Department have been scoping the research that will be involved and preparing terms of reference for the study. In this regard a Request for Tenders (RFT) was issued on 4 August. The independent review seeks to: analyse the current costs of providing childcare in Ireland and factors that impact on those costs; develop a model of the unit cost/costs of providing childcare that allows analysis of policy changes and variation in cost-drivers, including the potential impact of increased professionalisation; provide an objective, high level market analysis of the childcare sector in Ireland, including analysis of fee levels charged to parents; and provide a range of outputs as specified in the Request for Tenders.
It is anticipated that the independent review will be a key input in informing future decisions on policy development and funding of childcare schemes, including both the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) free pre-school programme and the Affordable Childcare Scheme, and will finally help us build a sustainable quality childcare sector in Ireland.
