Parents in Cork could be spending €800 to €900 a month for childcare. That is if there is only one child they need childcare for. It could be well over €1,000, or €1,500 if they have two children. It is absolutely breaking families, and that is if they can find childcare facilities at all. In large parts of my constituency, in places like Douglas and Carrigaline, it is effectively impossible to find a place. The Tánaiste went to the people in the last election and talked about €200 a month. The new maximum fee cap of €183.70 a week is a reduction but is still closer to €200 a week. We are a very considerable distance from €200 a month.

This is absolutely breaking families. The Tánaiste and his party like to talk about the squeezed middle. Any parent who needs childcare is definitely in the squeezed middle. There is no doubt about that. We have not seen any progress in the last budget. We need to see progress in this budget for families who are absolutely broken by childcare costs.

We definitely needed to see more progress and the Minister, Deputy Foley, is ambitious about making that progress. Under the new maximum fee caps, we have seen the highest possible upfront cost for a typical full-day place of 45 hours per week drop. The Deputy is correct that that is still too high. However, the cost has dropped from €198 per week to €183.70 per week. The commitment is very clear. It is not just my commitment; it is a commitment every political party in the House gave. The parties in government and Opposition parties agreed that the direction of travel is to get to €200 per child per month in the lifetime of this Oireachtas. That commitment is in the programme for Government. It is a commitment every member of the Government has signed up to. I agree with the Deputy that we need to make more progress in the budget. I, along with the Minister, Deputy Chambers, the Taoiseach and the Minister, Deputy Foley, have all said that is our intention.