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

Providers that had an active core funding contract during the 2022-23 programme year must provide validated financial returns as per their core funding partner service funding agreement. Having heard the concerns Deputy Funchion spoke to there, officials in my Department have, in recent weeks, engaged constructively with key stakeholders on this requirement.

Four meetings have taken place involving members and nominees from Childhood Services Ireland, Childminding Ireland, Early Childhood Ireland, the Association of Childhood Professionals Ireland, the Federation of Early Childhood Providers, the National Childhood Network, the National Community Childcare Forum and Seas Suas as well as representatives from city and county childcare committees, Ernst & Young, and Pobal.

Arising from this engagement, my officials have developed proposals to significantly simplify and streamline the reporting requirements under core funding. Updated financial reporting requirements were shared with providers yesterday, and include five key initiatives aimed at streamlining and simplifying the process for providers. There will be a transition phase for years 1 and 2 of core funding, during which the reporting requirements will be significantly reduced. There will be a significant reduction in the number of items against which services will have to report expenditure. In addition, a detailed breakdown of staff expenditure across qualification level will be no longer required. There will be a similar reduction in the number of income reporting requirements. There also will be a reduction in the administrative complexity of reporting for multisite organisations. My Department is exploring additional supports, including targeted financial supports, for partner services that may need it.

These changes were communicated to providers yesterday. I am sure the providers and their representative bodies are examining them now. Following that engagement, I hope they will meet a significant number of the issues that providers raised. My officials are now working to support providers in preparing to submit these returns, through the delivery of training and the design of targeted financial supports for those who need them. Importantly, the date for submitting financial returns has been extended to 22 March 2024.

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