Written answers

Thursday, 17 November 2022

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Early Childhood Care and Education

Photo of Verona MurphyVerona Murphy (Wexford, Independent)
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97. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the discussions that his Department is having to address the concerns of ECCE providers over the core funding scheme; the steps that he will be taking to prevent rolling closures of these providers in the coming weeks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56999/22]

Photo of Kathleen FunchionKathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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111. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will confirm that he will meet with ECCE services in order to find a pathway forward and to avoid further service closures. [56888/22]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 97 and 111 together.

Together for Better is the new funding model that supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good. This was recommended by an Expert Group, adopted by Government, and has been widely welcomed by representative groups advocating for parents, children, the workforce and providers.

I am delighted that to date, 93% - well over 4,100 - providers have signed up.

While the large majority of representative groups and individual providers have embraced Core Funding, I am disappointed that one representative group has co-ordinated a campaign which has included calling on services to close Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) provision on certain days. While only a small proportion of providers took part in closures on 11 November, it caused significant disruption to children and families using these services. This action is completely unwarranted when State investment in the sector is at an all-time high.

I offered to meet this group, on the condition that closures are called off. Unfortunately they chose to continue with the plan for closures. The offer of a meeting remains, conditional on calling off further closures. I and/or my officials have met the provider representative group in question either individually, or along with other groups, almost 20 times this year.

One of the primary demands of the services that are protesting is for an increase in capitation from €69 to €76 per child, per week for the ECCE programme – this is already available under Core Funding, which makes at least €78.75 available per week for ECCE children. Additional funding is available for graduates in leadership positions or additional hours of provision offered.

There also appear to be objections to the public management elements of the new funding model and particularly opposition to the fee freeze and requirements of financial and operational transparency.

The new funding model was designed with extensive stakeholder consultation and engagement, reports of which are published. Since Core Funding was announced last year as part of Budget 2022, the Department has hosted eight meetings of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum (ELCSF), and several Core Funding specific meetings with the ELCSF and provider representatives. The ELCSF includes multiple sectoral organisations and representative groups, including provider representatives, such as the Federation of Early Childhood Providers (FECP), Early Childhood Ireland (ECI) and the Association of Early Childhood Professionals (ACPI).

In particular, during August, September and October, there have been frequent meetings with provider representative groups in preparation for the commencement of Core Funding and to support the initial implementation of the scheme. There has also been extensive correspondence to and from provider representative groups, as well as individual contacts. I have had further meetings with individual provider representative groups and have also visited numerous services.

I am fully committed to working with sectoral representative groups and partner services to support them in delivering early learning and childcare for the public good. The City and County Childcare Committees have been working intensively to support individual providers and parents with the new scheme and continue to do so. I have put in place various safety nets to ensure that no service is left with less funding than they received last year through the new funding model and to support service sustainability where necessary.

The Government is investing significantly in the early learning and childcare sector with €1.025 billion in funding available next year. There is an ambitious new funding model being introduced to improve quality for children, affordability for parents and stability and sustainability for providers. There are supports, financial and otherwise, available to services who need them. I will continue to work closely with the sector to achieve the objectives of the new funding model.

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