919. Deputy Johnny Guirke asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 2493 of 14 April 2026, to outline the appraisal tools that have been developed in order to select projects that align with programme objectives; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29673/26]

I recently announced €135 million in capital investment in buildings for high-quality, accessible State-led early learning and childcare. The process will begin in 2026 with investment in buildings in what will be a ground-breaking initiative for this government. Capital funding will be used to acquire and/or fit out the building, depending on requirements.

The capital programme will deliver additional supply of high-quality and accessible early learning and childcare to address deficits in capacity, particularly for younger children and in disadvantaged/rural areas, and in line with public management policy goals. It has the following objectives:

Deliver additional publicly subsidised supply for early learning and childcare where required, with a focus on places for 1- to 3-year-olds and sufficient places for children to age up in the same service.

Deliver additional supply where required in areas of disadvantage and rural areas.

Ensure all supply delivered is inclusive and high quality.

Deliver supply in appropriate locations, taking account of accessibility for parents, links with other relevant services/amenities, appropriate land-use, and spatial planning goals.

Ensure cost-effectiveness and timeliness of delivery.

Support improved public management of the early learning and childcare sector as a whole.

The programme strategic objectives will shape the programme as a whole, as well as project selection. A suite of appraisal tools has been developed, with different criteria and indicators for each objective. This ensures a consistent methodology and comparative results for different projects, enabling the selection of the best-performing projects and the monitoring of the programme as a whole.

Data from a range of sources underpin project appraisal.

• The Forward Planning Model maps existing levels of supply and child population locations, and an assignment model identifies areas where supply levels are below existing targets.

• Future supply/demand trends take account of child population forecasts (by the ESRI and CSO) as well as local information on population and ELC provision

• Disadvantage and rurality draw on CSO and Pobal Deprivation Index tools

• Accessibility is assessed using tools developed by the National Transport Authority

• Costs are assessed using benchmarked data from Building Blocks and other valuation sources. This will be continuously updated as projects move through the pipeline

• The local sector profiling draws on data from the DCDE funding schemes.

In addition to these quantitative data sources, qualitative assessments are applied to appraise quality, alignment with planning strategy, and the confidence levels associated with cost and time. These assessments are undertaken in a systematic manner to ensure comparability across projects.