Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley – TD has today announced €25 million in funding to deliver 1,500 additional early learning and childcare places. The Building Blocks Extension Scheme will deliver additional capacity by supporting existing private and community early learning and childcare providers to extend their premises. […]

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley – TD today announced the 2025 Childminding Development Grant Awards. 413 childminders across the country will receive €411,338 in combined funding – the highest number of recipients and highest amount of funding ever awarded under the annual Grant scheme. The Minister’s support […]

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley – TD, together with Minister of State for Charities, Gaeltacht and the Islands & Rural Transport, Jerry Buttimer today announced the launch of this year’s My Little Library free book bag for almost 60,000 children starting primary school. Each year, every one […]

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley – TD has published the First 5 Annual Implementation Report 2024. First 5 is the ten-year Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families. The strategy includes 125 actions to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families in […]

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley – TD and Bernie McNally, Secretary General, Department of Education today addressed the annual Literacy, Numeracy and Digital Literacy Forum, which took place in Dublin Castle. Read the full press release here: https://brnw.ch/21wSjX6

Minister Norma Foley – TD has announced the opening of applications for a new fund to upskill early years staff The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund will cover 90 per cent of the course fees for early years staff who undertake a degree course. Full Press Release: https://brnw.ch/21wRh58

Minister Norma Foley – TD is delighted to announce that additional funding of €100,000 has been secured, on top of last year’s allocation of €250,000, to reflect the growth of Parent and Toddler groups in recent years. The funding can be used for a variety of purposes including children’s toys, […]

Minister Norma Foley – TD today announced the opening of the 2025 Childminding Development Grant. The grant aims to support childminders to enhance quality and safety in their service through the purchase of toys, childcare equipment, safety equipment, equipment to support inclusion and Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Maths (STEAM) […]

Roderic O’Gorman TD today published the 2024 edition of the State of the Nation’s Children (SONC) report. Some of the key findings in the report include: • In 2024, it is estimated that there were 1,232,714 children living in Ireland. This accounted for 22.9% of the total population. Of these […]

An updated version of Aistear: the Early Childhood Curriculum Framework has been prepared by the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NCCA) and was published this week. You can access the framework here, the guidance document here and the FAQ document here. The website is available in English and Irish. […]