MINISTER FOR CHILDREN Norma Foley will this morning present Cabinet with plans to provide State-led not-for-profit early learning facilities. 

The move comes as part of the Government’s plans to deliver €200 a month childcare within its five-year term. 

Under the plan, each facility will provide over 100 places with a focus on spots for children aged one to three, as this is the age cohort where demand is the greatest.

 The initiative is being dubbed as “groundbreaking” by officials in the Department of Children, as it will involve the acquisition of buildings by the Department for inclusion in the scheme. This is seen as a quicker way of getting the programme off the ground compared to seeking planning permission to construct new buildings on greenfield sites.

However, it is understood the Department has not ruled out building new facilities as the programme progresses.

Facilities will be put out to tender by the Department on a not-for-profit basis. 

The programme comes amid a childcare crisis for parents, as providers have continued to leave the Government’s existing Core Funding Scheme in recent years.

Arts Council overhaul 

Elsewhere at Cabinet today, Minister for Arts Patrick O’Donovan is set to tell his colleagues that there will be “significant change” in the Arts Council off the back of an expert report into its failed €6.7m IT project. 

Cabinet will be asked to approve the report today, which has been written by Professor Niamh Brennan and sets out 149 recommendations, including legislative changes.

• Another fine mess? How did the Arts Council spend €6.7m on a failed IT project

Among the report’s findings was that departmental oversight of the Arts Council was “too informal”. 

Minister O’Donovan’s department is set to establish what has been described as “a robust oversight system” to monitor implementation of the report’s recommendations. 

Meanwhile, Minister for Transport Darragh O’Brien will seek approval for the next stage of the MetroLink process. 

Next month, a process will begin to shortlist bidders to take part in the procurement process of the MetroLink later this year. 

In an effort to encourage tendering bids, some of the cost of doing so will be reimbursed to applicants even if their bid is not successful.