First 5 Annual Implementation Reports 2020 and 2021/22 

The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’ Gorman, has published the Government’s First 5 Annual Implementation Reports 2020 and 2021/22. First 5, the ten-year Whole-of-Government Strategy for Babies, Young Children and their Families (2019-2028) was published in November 2018 followed by an initial implementation plan for the Strategy in May 2019.

The reports highlight how the interim target set for paid parents leave – of 7 weeks per parent by 2021 – has been reached; the interim target of a 30% graduate early learning and childcare workforce by 2021 exceeded and the investment target for early learning and childcare – of €970 million by 2028 – has been exceeded five years ahead of schedule. The Report also outlines key achievements over the period 2020 – 2022, including:

• an extension of paid parents leave and extended entitlements to unpaid parent leave;
• the publication of Supporting Parents, A New Model of Parenting Support Services to improve awareness of, and access to, parenting support services;  
• a range of new measures to promote healthier childhoods;
• major reforms to the early learning and care system; and
• a range of measures to help families struggling with the cost of living and to reduce the risk of early childhood poverty.

First 5 focuses on the period of early childhood, from the antenatal period to age five, and takes a joined-up, cross-government approach to supporting babies, young children and their families during these critical early years.