The Government is to purchase early learning facilities this year to cater for up to 800 childcare places running predominantly as community-operated creches.
It is understood the Department of Children aims to acquire premises each catering for 100 or more children in a bid to provide as many places as possible quickly.
The move is being taken to address pressing demand in the sector – tens of thousands of children are on waiting lists.
The landmark State-led initiative will tender for community childcare operators but will also be open to private providers to run on a not-for-profit basis. The scheme will target both new and existing service providers.
The facilities will be acquired this year and refurbished to be open by the end of 2026 or early 2027.
Minister for Children Norma Foley will bring a memo to Cabinet on Tuesday outlining the initiative. It aims, with a budget of €177 million, to provide thousands of childcare places over the next four years.
Places for one-to three-year-old children are a priority with 40,000 on waiting lists.
Purchasing and refurbishing premises is the preferred option as it is faster than securing planning permission to construct new buildings on greenfield sites. It is understood, however, the option of building facilities will also be included as the State-led programme develops.
The department is looking at acquiring premises in suitable locations in rural and urban areas that are poorly served.
Childcare facilities will be focused in areas of disadvantage where private services sometimes do not locate because of families’ limited incomes. The department is also believed to be looking at areas where there is a high concentration of private supply but low levels of community childcare.
The department’s forward planning and delivery unit will be responsible for recommending the locations of the initial premises. The €177 million funding will also be used for a new Building Blocks scheme that will provide grants to existing facilities to extend their premises and deliver additional places.
Earlier this week Ms Foley met Minister for Housing James Browne about the review of childcare guidelines for the development of creches under the new Planning and Development Act. She will “continue to engage with him” about drafting revised guidelines, she told Government backbencher Emer Currie in a parliamentary reply.
Ms Currie, Fine Gael spokeswoman on children, submitted proposals to the review to “end the vicious cycle of dysfunction” in the planning system. Some 157,500 homes have been built since 2020, but childcare places have not kept pace, she said. Flaws in the guidelines include the failure to include one-bedroom apartments when assessing need.
She has proposed the childcare forward planning and delivery unit within the department build a detailed map of demand in local areas based on engagement with builders and community stakeholders.
The current “rudimentary formula” of 20 childcare places for every 75 homes built is not working, she said, because it does not consider the waiting list or demand in the area. Buildings, rather than properly fitted facilities, are built and lie empty for years before developers eventually secure permission to sell them as homes.
The forward planning unit “should be empowered to stipulate the requirement for childcare in the local area” and developers will have to engage with the planning authority about childcare requirements when preparing planning applications.
She has also called for the provision of mandatory technical guidance to local authorities for new childcare facilities whether for one-to-three-year-olds, or school-age children.
Ms Currie said local authority planning departments should be mandated and trained to “more effectively plan and deliver” large-scale childcare facilities.
