Photograph: iStockThe Government is to purchase early learning facilities this year to cater for up to 800 childcare places running predominantly as community-operated creches. It aims, with a budget of €177 million, to provide thousands of childcare places over the next four years. Childcare facilities will be focused in areas of disadvantage where private services sometimes do not locate because of families’ limited incomes. Some 157,500 homes have been built since 2020, but childcare places have not kept pace, she said. Ms Currie said local authority planning departments should be mandated and trained to “more effectively plan and deliver” large-scale childcare facilities.

Source: The Irish Times January 17, 2026 20:00 UTC