RIGHTS GROUPS AND childcare organisations have slammed the budget allocation for early learning and childcare today, as opposition politicians have called out the Government for failing to live up to its election-time promises on capping childcare costs.  

 Minister for Children Norma Foley said that the Government is making an “unprecedented” investment in disability services and in children. 

The headline figures sound good: €3.8 billion has been secured for the delivery of disability services alongside the HSE, which we are also told is “unprecedented”, and €1.48 billion for early learning and childcare, which the Department of Children says will “reduce costs for families and increase supports for staff and providers”. 

However, there was no mention from the Minister or her colleagues today of the promise that both government parties made during the 2024 election that childcare costs would be capped at €200 per month for parents across the country. 

What’s in the budget in terms of childcare

While there is no specific package on childcare costs in the budget, funding increased by 9%, which equates to an increase of €125 million. 

Foley today outlined that this funding increase will allow for over 286,000 children to benefit from the National Childcare Scheme, and for over 105,000 children to benefit from the Early Childhood Care programme. 

She also said that this will allow for 2,300 additional childcare places through the Government’s Core Funding Scheme. 

However, as Foley was outlining these measures, statements were coming in from organisations that represent childcare providers and rights’ groups that universally said that this budget was a missed opportunity to tackle systemic childcare issues, barriers to access, and spiralling waitlists. 

The National Women’s Council (NWC) pointed out that the planned increase in places for the rest of this year and 2026 will do little to address the list of over 50,000 children waiting on a place. 

Doireann Crosson, Head of Policy for the NWC said that she welcomes the overall focus on childcare in this budget, but added that it’s “disappointing” that the places promised will be offered through existing schemes “which continue to rely on private and often for-profit providers”. 

Early Childhood Ireland, another representative organisation for providers, said that “this approach will not address the systemic issues in our childcare system,” and that the additional places will “barely make a dent”. 

It was widely reported that Foley was pushing for a childcare costs package in this budget – and while her department has an overall funding increase, it falls short of putting money back in parents’ pockets or taking any major action to address the shortage of childcare places across the country. 

When asked by The Journal if she is disappointed that those kinds of measures aren’t provided for, and if she thinks voters who were swayed by the promise of childcare at €200 a month, Foley insisted that childcare costs will be brought down “over the lifetime of the Government”. 

Minister for Children Norma Foley acknowledges that childcare costs are still too high for many parents, and says that this budget will see a maximum fee cap in place for next Sept. No mention of the election promise of capping childcare costs at €200 per month. @thejournal_ie pic.twitter.com/YtsgLgK274

— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) October 7, 2025

In what is generally being perceived as the most austere budget in years, it seems that Foley is amongst several Ministers who had to settle for less than they would have hoped for. 

Foley was pressed for a response to the reaction from various groups today. 

In response to the comments made by the NWC, she said: “I’ve always been very clear that there are three elements to ensuring that we are accessible in this sphere, one is that we would have accessibility, two, that we reduce the costs for parents, and three, that we have staff in place who are fully trained and happy to work in the sector. 

“Looking forward to 2026, this is the first budget of five that will begin supporting each of those three elements, to deliver better opportunity for children, and also parents,” she said. 

“We’ve been very clear that this is a commitment of our Government over the next five years… we know that there are 73,000 places that are unused because we don’t have the staff,” she said. 

Foley pointed to the measures she has secured in this budget to get workers and providers onside with Government schemes. 

These include the continued rollout of the Core Funding Scheme. 

“Core Funding will also support improved pay for educators and school-age childcare practitioners with the implementation of the 2025 Employment Regulation orders in 2026,” Foley’s department said today. 

(Those measures are not new, but the budget puts across a timeline for when they will be implemented in the next year and a half). 

Childhood Services Ireland pointed out that even the increased budget for childcare and early learning in Ireland falls short of the OECD recommendation that a country should be investing 1% of its Gross National Income in early education, which would mean a budget of €3.2 billion. 

“This budget does not demonstrate the Government’s commitment to children,” CSI said, labelling the budget a “micro funding increase” with “reannounced budget commitments from 2024” tacked on. 

Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty delivered a fiery interrogation of the Government’s lack of new ideas on fixing systemic childcare issues. 

You’ve been in government about 16 years and you’ve made a balls of it,” he bluntly told Simon Harris in the Dáil. 

Catherine Connolly, the leading candidate in the presidential race, also condemned the Government’s lack of commitment to publicly funded childcare provision in this budget. 

Labour Party TD and spokesperson on special protection Mark Wall went so far as to say that Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have “gone back” on that promise. 

Speaking to The Journal, Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers said that the Government hopes to go further on cutting childcare costs and increasing provision in future budgets.