Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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1005. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if provision will be made to ensure the ongoing viability of small, rural preschools, which offer a vital service to communities in their local areas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2106/23]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Budget 2023 allocates €1,025m to early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector. Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare, aims to transform the sector and entails greater public management of the sector, including new conditions in relation to fees controls, quality improvements, and financial and operational transparency. I am fully committed to working with Partner Services delivering early learning and childcare for the public good, and recognise the important role of early learning and childcare services in our communities.

Support is available to all services with sustainability concerns through a Case Management process. My Department oversees this process through which local City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) and Pobal work together to assess early learning and childcare services experiencing difficulties and provide support as necessary. Pobal co-ordinate the overall case management process with the CCC administering on-the-ground case management assistance. This can include help with completing and interpreting analysis of staff ratios and cash flow, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to individual circumstances.

My Department also has in place a Sustainability Fund to support early learning and childcare services which can be accessed through the aforementioned Case Management Process. Within this Sustainability Fund, there is a specific fund which has the purpose of providing support to not-for-profit community services in isolated rural areas, who may face revenue challenges due to sporadic levels of enrolment in the service stemming from natural fluctuations in a small local population.

Normally financial supports accessed through the Case Management process, are only available for community (not-for-profit) services presenting with sustainability issues following a financial assessment by Pobal. However, a new strand of the Sustainability Fund is available to all private and community providers who are in contract for Core Funding who may experience financial difficulties. As with previous strands of the Sustainability Fund, it focuses on operational as well as financial supports to assist services to manage their immediate difficulties and transition to sustainability and can be accessed through the pre-existing Case Management Process which the Department oversees.

The CCC should be the first point of contact for any service seeking support; I would therefore urge any early learning and childcare service in difficulty to contact their local CCC as soon as possible.

My Department, Pobal and the CCCs continue to closely monitor trends concerning services entering Case Management and will continue to maintain the availability of Sustainability Funding for individual services at risk.