Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

The ECCE programme remains fundamental to our delivery of early learning and care. That is emphasised by the fact that we are doing an evaluation now. One outcome of that will be to put it on a statutory basis. We want to continue to support our ECCE-only services. We have announced the first year of the core funding package. We recognise that inflation is an issue. When I announced the package on budget day, it was €207 million. It is now €221 million. We increased the overall package of funding to reflect inflation. This is the first year of it and I believe that it will secure the elements of better pay for staff, as we discussed with Deputies earlier, and sustainability of services. In addition, the fee-freeze that we sought in exchange for this additional funding will begin the work of cutting costs for parents. The work will be advanced further in this year's budget through an increase in the national childcare scheme, NCS.

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