In the run-up to the last general election, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael were in panic mode.

In an effort to distract voters from the Government's failure to deliver they began splashing the cash, giving nearly everyone in the country a one-off payment which hit bank accounts in the week leading up to the election. Not just that, but a range of cast-iron commitments were made to the electorate. Chief among them was a promise to cap the cost of childcare at €200 a month. We were told that childcare costs were at the top of Fianna Fáil's agenda, while Fine Gael promised to publish a plan to cap costs and deliver a public model of childcare within the first 100 days of office.

A full 475 days later, where are we now? Childcare costs have not come down by a single cent. Families with young children are still paying enormous sums for childcare. That is if they are lucky enough to even get a childcare place because it is almost impossible to get one, especially for babies between six and 12 months of age. This means thousands of women all over the country having to take unpaid maternity leave so they can care for their babies. It is stressful, it is a struggle and it is hugely expensive.

In an interview with Gavan Reilly on Monday the Taoiseach refused to commit to reducing childcare costs in the next budget. It was extraordinary to witness, given all of the pre-election bluster. The reality is that our childcare system is broken but, instead of reforming it, the Taoiseach wants to continue with business as usual. We have the resources to transform childcare services, rolling out a public model that would be accessible and affordable. It would mean the State treating childcare with the level of seriousness primary and secondary education get, recognising that investment in early years and the first few years of a child's life pays dividends over a lifetime.

The Social Democrats was the first party to publish a plan for a public model of childcare. We did that two years ago, detailing how we would set up a public childcare model to acquire private businesses that wanted to sell, because we know there are businesses that want to sell. Just this week, one of Ireland's biggest childcare operators, Tigers Childcare, was acquired by a large UK company, Kids Planet Day Nurseries. That deal was worth €75 million. That is a drop in the ocean of the surpluses available to this Government but the grim reality is that this Government, which is awash with cash, lacks both vision and ambition. The Government is incapable of investing the money wisely and reforming our public services, driving down costs for families, transforming people's lives in the long term for the better.

Why will the Taoiseach not commit to reducing childcare fees in the budget and where is the plan to roll out a public model of childcare?

In terms of childcare more generally, there has been very significant progress made in childcare in the last number of years. Again, Deputy Cairns will not acknowledge that, but it is the reality in terms of both reduction of costs and, indeed, the increase in the numbers of children availing of the various programmes we have. In terms of the national childcare scheme, about 277,000 children will be supported this year. That is an increase of 27,000 children in just one year. Income thresholds are rising from September of this year, from €34,000 and €68,000, ensuring more low- and middle-income families qualify for higher levels of support. Some 105,000 children continue to benefit from two years of free preschool under the ECCE programme and the access and inclusion model now supports a record 8,400 children with disabilities, ensuring access to mainstream early learning and childcare. Core funding now exceeds about €420 million. That is a 62% increase since 2022, with 93% of providers signed up. After subsidies, parents in many instances now pay no more than €198.70 per week for a full-day, 45-hour place.

We have more to do and we want to reduce the fees even further. We are going to continue to work on that and the forthcoming budget will be an opportunity to improve the situation in terms of the cost of childcare and also, of course, in terms of payments. Regarding human capital and people who work in childcare, we have focused on that in particular in the last number of years, and this year's core funding allocation includes about €45 million ring-fenced to support improved pay for early-years educators and school-age childcare practitioners where new employment regulation orders are agreed. We achieved a milestone in the last Government by agreeing such a regulation order and the most recent employment regulation order delivered an average 10% increase in minimum pay rates, benefitting over two thirds of the workforce. The pay-related negotiations are conducted through the joint labour committee, with Government backing the outcomes financially through the core funding.

For the first time ever, the State is now the directly supporting the creation of new childcare capacity through a State-led building, acquisition and delivery programme targeting areas of greatest need, including places for children under three years of age and in rural and disadvantaged communities. There is €135 million in capital investment available over the next five years, with up to eight buildings to be selected for investment in 2026.

There has been steady progress made. In terms of the broader issue of State-led childcare provision, childcare has evolved over the last 30-odd years, beginning, actually, in the Department of justice under the new opportunities for women, NOW, programme. It has evolved through both community playschools, private operators and some-----

Thank you, Taoiseach. You will have to come back in.

I will come back in.

The Taoiseach seems to just think it is par for the course to make these big election promises to people and then completely, unashamedly renege on them afterwards.

Hear, hear.

He seems to think that plámásing the electorate and promising things is just part of electioneering. It is not. People believed the Taoiseach when he said there would be a reduction in childcare fees. People believed this Government when it promised to roll out a plan for a public model of childcare. I just hope that people watching will judge this Government not on its empty promises in the lead-up to the next election but on its actions now. The Taoiseach says I will not acknowledge progress and is talking about workers in this sector. Does he acknowledge that workers in the childcare sector have the same level of training and qualifications as other teachers but get paid minimum wage and in the summer months have to sign on? Where is the progress for workers in this sector? Does the Taoiseach acknowledge that without a public model of childcare, without any actual childcare at all for so many families, we will never reach gender equality and that this stifles women's careers? It blocks them from getting back into the workplace. The Taoiseach lists off his script of things there as if that is progress.

I believe in childcare for the development of the child primarily. Anything we do in the area of childcare or early education should be about the child as the primary issue, actually. I know a lot about Montessori and I know all about early education because I was involved in it and I had Green Papers and so on. Maybe people should examine the Social Democrats' proposals and the lack of substance in them, the lack of detail, the lack of flesh on the bone.

I think you should examine them.

Deputy Cairns is now suggesting we can seamlessly move from a model we have developed over years through community-----

I did not say seamlessly. Did you read our proposal?

Deputy Cairns.

You are saying that and you are holding up the prospect that we can, with a click of the fingers, seamlessly move into a-----

You obviously have not read the proposal.

Deputy, the rules are the same for you as everyone else.

I did not interrupt you, Deputy Cairns, in fairness. I never do interrupt you. Every time I say a few home truths, you all get a bit agitated and have to heckle back.

Home spins.

The bottom line is this: the Social Democrats do not do detailed policy propositions.

That is rubbish.

That is the bottom line. They are talking about promises and commitments. The bottom line is a lot of what the Social Democrats say as a party lacks that substance and that detail. You cannot, overnight, move from where we currently are into a full public model. You just cannot do that and you should acknowledge the honesty of that proposition.