The Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, has announced a public consultation on how the state provides for children and young people in the care system.

The State looks after about 6,000 children who cannot live with their birth parents, in various forms of alternative care. Most of these children are in foster care, which is usually the preferred option because it most closely replicates a family home environment.

Other types of care include children living with relatives (known as kinship care), care in residential facilities, care for separated children seeking asylum and special care for children who are very vulnerable with complex psychological and sociological profiles.

Minister Foley is today launching an online public consultation for the National Policy Framework on Alternative Care starting which will run for several weeks until late March 2026.

Minister Foley said:

This consultation reinforces the Government’s commitment to ensuring voices and views of people with care experience are at the centre of the National Policy Framework, from development to delivery.

The National Policy Framework will aim to articulate a future and Whole of Government vision of alternative care in Ireland and will also deliver on a Programme for Government commitment in this regard.

The public consultation seeks input through an online survey, as well as other options for people to share their views by email or by post. Responses to the public consultation will be reviewed by the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to inform the design and development of Ireland’s first National Policy framework for Alternative Care.

The public call for input is part of a broader process of consultation with children, young people, families, stakeholders and sectoral experts. Responses and feedback from the overall consultation process will enable the Department of Children, Disability and Equality to identify key issues and help to shape the National Policy Framework for Alternative Care.

The Minister and the Department want to hear from a diversity of people, including but not limited to those who may have personal experience with Ireland’s alternative care system, with contributions regarding:

1. The period during which a child is in alternative care.
2. The period before a child comes into alternative care, for example matters relating to child protection, family support, or early intervention.
3. The period after a child has been in care, for example matters relating to aftercare or longer term outcomes.
4. Other relevant matters.

The National Policy Framework on Alternative Care will be delivered in the summer of 2026, following this robust consultation process.

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, today launched an online survey for parents, early years educators, providers and other stakeholders as part of The National Conversation on Education.

The 12-question survey will explore the key priorities for early learning and care, school-age childcare and childminding, what should change or stay the same, and how to make these settings better for babies, young children, and young people.

The online survey will examine the role of early learning and care and school-age childcare in the education system as part of the wider National Conversation on Education working in tandem with the current Department of Education and Youth survey that focuses on schools.

The online survey will be followed by local consultation events that will take place around the country later in April or early May. The final stage of the process will be a national consultation event in the summer to bring together all voices.

The survey will inform Phase 2 of Shaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan. It will also help in the development of the successor to First 5, which is the Ireland’s Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families from 2019-2028.

The online survey launched today and can be accessed via gov.ie here.

Minister Foley said:

Parents, early years educators, school‑age childcare practitioners, childminders, providers, and all those interested in the future of early learning and care and school‑age childcare are invited to share their views.

Anyone in Ireland can participate in the following ways:

• Completing the survey
• Hosting your own conversation in your local early learning and care or school-age childcare service or other group and submitting a group response to the survey, including details of the group. A conversation guide is available to support you in this.
• Taking part in one of the local consultation events that will take place around the country later in April or early May. You can be kept informed of these by completing the online survey.

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley, has today welcomed the upsurge in youth participation with over 4,000 young people involved in Government decision‑making.

The significant acceleration in youth engagement across Government is highlighted in the first implementation report of Participation of Children and Young People in Decision‑making: Action Plan 2024–2028.

The first year of delivery saw well over 4,000 children and young people contribute directly to national policy development across multiple sectors.

Key participation highlights include:

• A newly established Children and Young People’s Participation Interdepartmental Group, with representation from 15 Government Departments, met quarterly throughout 2024, demonstrating a strengthened whole‑of‑Government approach to embedding youth voice in policymaking.

• 3,881 children and young people who shared their views through the School Meals Programme evaluation survey and focus groups, including seldom-heard groups such as children with disabilities and those from minority backgrounds.

• Approximately 70 young delegates shaping the Climate Action Plan through the National Youth Assembly on Climate.

• 400 students taking part in the inaugural Youth Agri‑Food Dialogue, part of Ireland’s first National Youth Food Forum.

• 49 young delegates contributing to the Rural Youth Assembly, developing policy recommendations on living, learning and working in rural Ireland.

• Young people engaging in the redesign of mental health transition services through surveys, focus groups and an in‑person consultation event at Croke Park.

These figures demonstrate the strong commitment across Government Departments and Agencies to including children and young people in their decision-making processes.

The report also highlights the growing confidence and influence of national youth participation structures. Notably, 2025 saw the first National Youth Assembly initiated directly by young people themselves, following a request from delegates for a dedicated Assembly on Transport. This is a strong signal of the maturing and self‑directed nature of youth engagement in Ireland.

Innovative approaches to ensuring broader inclusion are also included in the report, from the publication of the first national Toolkit enabling participation of children aged 0–5 in decision‑making, to expanded engagement with seldom‑heard communities, including LGBTI+ young people contributing to the Youth Homelessness Strategy consultation.

Speaking today, Minister Foley said:

• This implementation report documents progress made on each of the 60 actions in the first year of the Action Plan and identifies areas requiring further focus.
• The Action Plan focuses on eight areas, including embedding youth voice in policymaking, building participation capacity across sectors, strengthening participation in education and health, and ensuring safe and equitable participation online.
• The published report is available on the DCDE website here.

Defining Participation

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) defines children and young people’s participation in decision-making as: “ongoing processes, which include information-sharing and dialogue between children and adults based on mutual respect, and in which children can learn how their views and those of adults are taken into account and shape the outcome of such processes”.

In the lived experiences of children, this relates to children and young people’s involvement in decision-making processes in everyday settings such as classrooms, childcare settings, healthcare, and out-of-school settings, as well as in national policy decisions that affect their lives. Children and young people are recognised as rights holders, ‘citizens of today’ rather than merely as ‘beings in becoming’, and their capacity to participate in decisions that affect them evolves as they grow and mature.

Children and young people have expertise in their own lives, and adults also have considerable expertise in the lives of children and young people. However, adults do not always know how children feel, what they think or what they like and, accordingly, they have a duty to give due weight to children and young people’s views in decision-making processes.

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley has announced that €135 million will be made available for State-led services providing high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare.

The process will begin in 2026 with the acquisition of buildings in what will be a ground-breaking initiative for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.

Capital funding will be used to acquire and/or fit out the building, depending on requirements. The Department will work with not-for-profit providers to design and open services, and these providers will run the services.

Up to eight buildings will be selected for investment this year with each one providing more than 100 places. The state-led initiative will provide thousands of places up to 2030 using the €135 million provided in the National Development Plan.

Launching the programme, Minister Foley said:

The Department will begin by assessing sites and buildings which align with the goals of the programme and, where required, will seek expressions of interest from operators to deliver these State-led services.

Minister Foley added that the Department of Children, Disability and Equality was in discussions with local authorities and State agencies, including the Land Development Agency, about the potential for acquiring buildings.

The initial approach being taken in the programme in 2026 is on purchasing and refurbishment of buildings because this will be faster than securing planning permission to construct new buildings on green field sites. However, the option of building new facilities will also be considered as the state-led programme progresses.

Having accessible, affordable and high-quality childcare in local neighbourhoods supports families and strengthens community bonds.

There will be a particular focus in the new state-led facilities on providing places for 1-3 year old children because this is where the need is greatest.

The aim of delivering additional supply in suitable locations will include both rural areas and urban areas which are not well served at the moment.

Additional supply in areas of disadvantage is another priority because early learning can have very positive impacts on children at risk of disadvantage.

Another factor to consider is the need to rebalance supply in some areas where there is a high concentration of private supply, but very low levels of community childcare.

Other measures being pursued to increase the supply of places include a new round of Building Blocks scheme in 2026, which will fund extensions to existing early learning and childcare services.

ENDS

The Programme for Government includes the following commitments which will be supported by this programme:

• Resource and transform the Supply Management Unit into a Forward Planning and Delivery Unit within the Department to identify areas of need, forecast demand and deliver public supply within the childcare sector where required.
• Provide capital investment to build or purchase State-owned childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists.
• Plan the development of State-led facilities in tandem with the school building programme, including Irish-medium Naíonraí.

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:

Objective 1: Deliver additional publicly subsidised supply for Early Learning and Care 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.

Objective 2: Deliver additional supply where required in areas of disadvantage and rural areas.

Objective 3: Ensure all supply delivered is inclusive and high quality.

Objective 4: Deliver supply in appropriate locations, taking account of accessibility for parents, links with other relevant services/amenities, appropriate land-use, and spatial planning goals.

Objective 5: Ensure cost-effectiveness and timeliness of delivery.

Objective 6: Support improved public management of the ELC sector as a whole.

Capital funding has been provided under the National Development Plan to fund this programme.