I start by wishing everybody in the house a happy new year. On Monday, 12 January, The Echo, a Cork local newspaper known to the Taoiseach and me, reported dozens of early childcare facilities closing across Cork. In fact, 130 facilities have closed in the past five years in Cork and that is echoed throughout Ireland. Providers are warning that Government funding levels, statutory burdens and staffing pressures are making the sector financially unviable. Many parents are losing places, not just in Cork but across the country. Staff are leaving the profession and the community is left without housing. Will the Taoiseach now admit that his Government has got it wrong, its policies are actively driving the providers out of business and working families deserve better? These providers do not need additional paperwork and they certainly do not need platitudes.

We have the highest number of partner services and core funding at any point since the childcare scheme was launched in 2022, and the number continues to grow. A small number of providers have decided not to sign up for core funding for the current 2025-26 programme. As of today, 4,590 services have signed up, the highest number since 2022. An assessment of the withdrawal of providers from core funding was undertaken on 3 November. It revealed that about 4% of services had left at one point over the lifetime of the scheme to that date. If there are individual issues pertaining to specific providers, the Minister is always open to engaging with such providers.

In that assessment, approximately 70% of services have now returned to core funding. Some people left and came back in again-----

Thank you, Taoiseach.

-----and these are issues the Minister will continue to engage with the providers on.