The State could purchase vacant childcare units as part of efforts to increase capacity, the Seanad has heard.
Minister for Children Roderic O’Gorman signalled his openness to the idea after a debate on a Fine Gael motion on childcare provision.
Senators outlined how there was pressure on childcare spaces in various parts of the country with parents finding it particularly hard to find places for babies.
Emer Currie, the Dublin West-based Senator who spearheaded the motion, gave examples from her own area of childcare facilities built as part of housing developments lying vacant for long periods of time.
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She also said 2001 guidelines say there should be at least one childcare facility for every 75 homes built but that “simply isn’t happening”.
She blamed “loopholes” like one-bedroom apartments not counting towards the 75 home figure and said that ending this exemption was something that could be done now.
Ms Currie also said developers had to provide only a shell unit, “often resulting in buildings that are not [fit] for purpose in terms of location, size, layout and regulatory compliance” and they “can then require substantial additional expenditure making it financially unviable for a childcare provider to take them on”.
She compiled a report on better planning for childcare and one of its recommendations is that the Government would develop a new model for the State to acquire childcare units built by developers that could be leased to providers “at a reasonable cost”.
Mr O’Gorman said there were “real challenges” in childcare but the Coalition had advanced goals of reducing costs for parents, increasing pay for staff and ensuring sustainability for providers.
He said capacity was “now a big challenge” and “we’ll rise to meet that particular challenge as well”.
The Green Party leader said the Departments of Children, Housing and Education were working together to review the suitability of planning guidelines. He also said an expert group had considered the idea of “public provision” and whether there should be some element of this.
He referred to the proposal for the State to acquire shell buildings as part of a possible leaseback model and indicated his openness to the proposal. He said it “might be a direct provision to community [providers] as well”.
Mr O’Gorman said: “That’s why we’ve announced that €25 million for next year” as part of the Building Blocks initiative for investing in childcare capacity.
“We’re focusing that Building Blocks investment on services that will offer a service for one-three year olds, recognising that particular challenge,” he added.
Ms Currie welcomed his remarks and clarified that she wasn’t suggesting properties purchased by the State should just be for private providers.
“There’s lots of trusted, experienced providers that want to expand their services into new buildings and this would assist them,” she said.
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