Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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575. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of Budget 2022 additional childcare funding; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9290/22]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Budget 2022 introduced a ground-breaking package of measures for the early learning and childcare sector - designed to deliver quality for children, affordability for parents, stability for providers, and support employers to improve pay and conditions for staff.

In Budget 2022 I have secured an additional €78m in early learning and care (ELC) and school age childcare (SAC) funding, bringing the total investment in the sector to €716m in 2022.

The €716 million investment in ELC and SAC includes €69 million for a new Core Funding stream for providers in 2022, equivalent to €207 million over a full year - this will ensure sustainability of services and support the introduction of an Employment Regulation Order (ERO) to determine minimum rates of pay for workers as well as conditions of employment.

In return for this funding, there will be a commitment from providers not to increase parental fees, meaning the full affordability effects of the NCS and the universal ECCE Pre-school Programme will be felt by parents.

In advance of the introduction of the Core Funding Stream, a Transition Fund, of up to €37m, will be available to providers, also contingent on an agreement not to increase fees from September 2021 levels. This fund will now operate between May and August 2022, after the end of the Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme in April 2022 and prior to the introduction of Core Funding in September 2022.