Dr. Naomi Feely:

We held a recent event as part of End Child Poverty Week where some of our members said that equal start funding has allowed them to break even, which is really important. In the run-up to budget 2026, we wanted to see a ramping up of investment in equal start. It is really critical that funding is increased because it can have an impact. Based on the figures we have seen to date, the increase in funding for the next programme year of equal start equates to an additional €3 million or €4 million. It needs to be significantly higher than that.