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

Right now, where a service is not involved in the core funding model my Department does not have a mechanism to influence how much it charges. If the service is in the NCS the Department provides a significant subsidy to parents, which is growing this year - and very significantly in September - and which will lessen the costs. However, right now the Department does not have a mechanism if services are not within the core funding model. That is why it is so important that 94.5% of services are in the core funding model.

In terms of schools, the Department of Education published a new document this week on the use of school buildings. I am not sure if the Deputy has seen it yet so it is worth a look. The Department inputted to that. It is certainly far more positive in terms of the use of school buildings for childcare but particularly for after-school. Sometimes new schools give an extra class TCC and need it later on and it becomes a conflict but for after-school the whole school building is free and it has been confirmed that the income that goes to a school from after-school will not be deducted by the Department of Education. That is a really positive step.

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