Announcing measures to support childcare in 2017, Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said early years funding will rise to €465m in 2017.

That’s an increase of 35%, which will support universal and means-tested services.

“This is a major step forward in the provision of childcare,” Minister Donohoe said.

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The new childcare scheme to subsidise payments will be means tested and not come in until September 2017.

Meanwhile, €9.5bn is to be spent on education (16% of total Budget spending), an increase of €458m over last year.

This will fund a recruitment drive in 2017 for 2,500 teachers, 900 of them resource teachers.

“There is no element of our national life that has not been transformed by the increased educational attainment of our people,” Minister Donoghue said.