This is a little bugbear of mine ....

The Minister of Finance yesterday in the budget announced that they (i assume the government) will be providing an extra 50,000 childcare places within the next three years.

Can someone from FF, the PD's, or anyone else please explain how they intend to provide all these extra spaces ?

Will they be provided by government agencies ?

Will they be provided by local authorities ?

Will they be provided by the private sector ?

Please don't just answer yes, yes and yes, please outline the expected numbers that will be provided by each sector ?

Will all of these places be run by qualified, registered child-minders ?

Will childminders already minding children in the "black economy", who decide to register, be counted as "extra childminders" ?

This is a serious question for anyone who wishes to answer, as I doubt the ability to provide so many extra spaces in such a lenght of time.

I would be delighted to be proven wrong however.

So, theres the floor open, lets debate.