110,000 children get free childcare worth €4k

More than 110,000 children will be in receipt of free State-sponsored childcare by early next year as part of “radical” reforms introduced by Government last summer — saving each family an average of €4,000 on creche costs.

Children’s Minister Katherine Zappone confirmed the situation as she revealed the number of families already accessing the free support has surged from 67,000 to 89,527 since changes which came into effect earlier this year.

Under long-stated plans first proposed by former children’s minister James Reilly and introduced by Ms Zappone in summer 2016, families with children aged between three and four years old have been given an extra free State-sponsored childcare supports year.