I will raise the issue of childcare provision and early childhood education. I acknowledge that there has been some progress in the past couple of years. There were some good announcements last week as well, which will take a small bit of pressure off. While I acknowledge some moderate progress, there is a whole lot more to do. The reason I mention this today is, at best, the Government has just one budget remaining in its lifetime and this Dáil only has one budget left so the window of opportunity to fix this problem is closing, and closing fast. While I appreciate the country has finite resources, the allocation of funding for childcare is not just a financial decision. There is also a moral component and a moral decision to it. Most people will accept that if women in this country had equal access the power, issues with childcare and early childhood education would have been solved decades ago. While other EU countries were putting in place very sophisticated infrastructure for early childhood education, our Constitution told us a woman's place was in the home. If that was not good enough, we bought in the marriage ban and doubled down on it. We have been chasing our tails ever since to try to get out of that hole we put ourselves in.

In retrospect, defining moments in a country's history can be identified when it pivots either for good or ill depending on the quality of the decision that was taken. A decision in 1966 in Ireland still rings true today. That was Donogh O'Malley's announcement of free secondary education. What we are asking for is a second Donogh O'Malley moment, not focusing on secondary education but focusing on early education. The reason for this is we are of the view that education for our citizens who are under five years of age is at least as important as for citizens who are over five years of age. Will the Taoiseach give any indication to the House as to whether he will fund early childhood education properly in the remaining term of this Government to provide for the country's future, to tackle the inequities of the present and, perhaps most importantly, to atone for the wrongs of the past?

I thank the Deputy. I hope that when this period is looked back on there will be what might yet be seen as a number of Donogh O'Malley moments. What we have done, particularly as regard to employment rights, such as the move to a living wage, is hugely significant. There is the introduction of statutory sick pay and all the different forms of parental leave, which did not exist before, as well as the national pension plan legislation the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, will bring in this year to make sure every worker has an occupational pension on top of his or her State pension. These are big changes, these are big reforms, and the extent of them will be seen more so in the future than they are currently.

The other area that has been really significant under this Government, building on the work of the previous one, is affordable healthcare. For the first time, more than half the country is entitled to see their GP without having to pay fees. Hospital charges have been abolished for public patients and the cost of medicines has been considerably reduced. That is enormous progress in only a short space of years.

When it comes to childcare, the Government has expanded preschool provision and the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme very considerably. By next September, we will have reduced childcare fees by 50%. That is a very significant reduction in fees and that will really help a lot of families to pay the bills. That also has huge societal benefits, including benefits for children in getting early education and in their development and, of course, economic benefits in allowing parents to re-enter the workforce much sooner than they would otherwise be able to do so, were it not for that.

As for the next steps beyond that, they will be for the next budget, as the Deputy rightly pointed out. The fact the Government will have reduced childcare fees by half by next September is very significant progress and we particularly want to move into other areas such as the access and inclusion model, AIM, for example, for children with disabilities and so on so they can get access to healthcare and early education too.

I thank the Taoiseach for his response. I agree there has been some progress, but more definitely needs to be done. What a wonderful legacy it would be for the 33rd Dáil to bring in free early education for the people of this country. I accept there are competing priorities but whenever I ask for someone's priorities, I never ask for their press releases or the statements they have made; I always say, "Show me your accounts," because it is only in the allocation of finite resources that we reveal our true priorities.

I recognise there is progress. I recognise there is more work to be done, but Donogh O'Malley's example proves that we can be brave. We were brave once and we should be brave again. I urge the Taoiseach to summon the courage to solve this problem once and for all and we will solve early childhood education once and for all.

In terms of our accounts, when it comes to early years childcare and early education, the budget for next year for the first time will exceed €1.1 billion. When this Government came to office, it was €0.63 billion. There has been a 70% increase in investment in just over three years. That is really considerable. What does that mean for parents? It means by next September the average family will pay half what they paid for childcare than when this Government was re-elected. That is a considerable achievement with huge societal benefits and benefits for children, families and the economy more widely. Of course, we want to build on that but, as the Deputy says, there are competing priorities. We will have to see where we stand next August-September when we prepare the next budget.