MINISTER FOR CHILDREN Norma Foley will today present Cabinet with phase one of the long-awaited childcare plan, which will pave the way towards reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month.

The ‘Early Years Action Plan’ will be formally launched tomorrow morning, more than six months later than was promised by Fine Gael leader Simon Harris, who pledged to publish a roadmap for cutting the cost of childcare to €200 per month within the first 100 days of government.

As reported by The Journal last week, the plan will increase the income limit for the National Childcare Scheme from September 2026.

Currently, families can get full subsidies if their income is below €26,000, a limit that has been unchanged since 2019. Under the new plan, graduated subsidies will be introduced for households with an income of between €26,000 and €60,000. 

Phase one of the Early Years Action Plan contains actions which can be implemented in the short term to increase access to childcare places, improve affordability and continue to raise quality standards in the early years sector.

It will also lay out the start of a public consultation process on the medium-term and long-term future of the early years sector, including how to get to the €200 per child per month pledge.

More details on this will be contained in phase 2 of the plan, which will be published next year after the public consultation process concludes.

Minister Foley has previously acknowledged that it will be a “long journey” to get to the €200 mark.