One of the central planks of the government's "giveaway" Budget, as announced on Tuesday, was the newly expanded free pre-school childcare entitlements.

But like all Budget bonuses, on closer inspection the expansion of the scheme is not without its difficulties.

Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin said this week, that, from next September, free pre-school places will be available for children from up to two and a half years and until they actually start school.

At present, children are entitled to one year of free pre-school education between the ages of three years and two months and four years and seven months.

So the change represents an extra year of care under the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme (ECCE).

The newly extended scheme will also allow for children to join at three points during the year in September, January or April - at present they can only start in September.

But Early Childhood Ireland says there are not enough spaces for all the extra children. 

Rita Byrne is the owner of Charlesland Park Montessori in Greystones, Co Wicklow.

She told Pat Kenny that the scheme, even in its current form has myriad problems and she expressed concern that the expansion of an already flawed scheme would lead to a deterioration in the quality of childcare being provided:

Those who are already participating in the scheme will not benefit from the new benefits, because they will not kick in until September next.

That decision is causing considerable anger among parents.

The main benefit of the scheme is that it gives children access to pre-school, when they might otherwise have been shut out.

Elements unchanged

What has not changed is the provision of three hours of care for children, either in the morning or the afternoon.

The ECCE scheme provides childcare across 38 weeks of the year, which means that parents augment that allowance with paid sessional childcare.

The other thing that has not changed is the amount of money the government gives to childcare providers. Creche owner Rita Byrne says that since the ECCE scheme was introduced five years ago there has been no increase in the rates they are paid despite an increase in overheads. 

Other provisions

The Minister also announced 8,000 new childcare places to help support parents in low paid employment.

Brendan Howlin meanwhile confirmed the investment of €3 million in afterschool services in some school buildings.

Child Benefit to go up by €5 to €140 next year

GP care to be extended to under 12s next year (subject to negotiation with doctor representatives)

The coalition will ensure fathers get two weeks leave on the birth of their children.

And there will be an amalgamation of existing services - including the Community Childcare Subvention, After-School Childcare Scheme, Childcare Education and Training Support programme and Community Employment Childcare programme - into a new single affordable childcare programme by 2017.