Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Closure of childcare facilities

Tusla is the independent statutory regulator for early years services, including Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) services and is responsible for maintaining the register of services under the Child Care Act 1991. The latest data on new service registrations and service closures provided by the Tusla Early Years Inspectorate covering the period up to the end of November 2023 shows:

• a net increase of 126 in the overall number of ELC and standalone SAC services year to date;
• a net increase of 158 standalone SAC services (after-school childcare) year to date;
• a five-year low in the number of net ELC (i.e. early learning and care, or pre-school) services closures, (i.e. 32 net closures January-November 2023 compared to 57 net closures in 2022, 77 net closures in 2021, 101 net closures in 2020 and 89 net closures in 2019 for the same time period. It should be noted that net closures of services does not necessarily imply a reduction in capacity in the sector.

In County Cork, up to end November 2023, there were 4 new ELC registrations while 16 ELC services closed. In Kerry, in the same period, there were 4 new ELC registrations while 3 ELC services closed. In County Cork, up to end November 2023, there were 37 new SAC registrations while 11 SAC services closed. In Kerry, in the same period, there were 14 new SAC registrations while 7 SAC services closed. It is important to note that the county-specific SAC data includes both standalone SAC services and combined SAC and ELC services. This means that some services that were listed as closed or newly registered may appear in both the ELC and SAC data.

Increasing supply

Ensuring high-quality early learning and childcare is affordable and accessible to all children and, in particular, children from vulnerable backgrounds, is a key priority for Government.

Recent data shows that, on the whole, the supply of early learning and childcare places are broadly meeting demand. There are pockets of undersupply in certain areas and for certain cohorts, including places for babies and toddlers as well as full time place.

Data from Tusla on service registrations shows that the number of services that have closed in 2023 are lower than previous years. There is considerable diversity in the reasons given for closure by providers. While some services have closed for financial reasons, it is important to note that many have closed for other reasons, such as lack of demand or the retirement of the owner.

My Department is progressing a range of actions to ensure the supply of early learning and childcare and school age childcare meets demand.

A new Supply Management Unit has been established within my Department to lead on this important work. The development of this function is akin to the Department of Education’s Forward Planning Unit.

The Supply Management Unit’s will oversee the allocation of new capital investment. €69 million was allocated to my Department over the period 2023-2025 under the NDP to enable capital investment in the sector.

The Building Blocks - Capacity Grant, which I announced last month, will fund the expansion of existing provision and invest in the development of new provision. My Department is currently undertaking a detailed needs analysis of supply and demand across the sector. This analysis will enable the funding to be targeted to where it is most needed.

Supports for the sector

Core Funding makes a significant additional contribution to services’ income, allowing them to better absorb increased costs including energy costs. In Year 1 of Core Funding, 99% of services saw their income increase through Core Funding with 1%, or close to 60 services, receiving top up payments to ensure their income did not decrease for the same level of provision offered.

All services will have seen further increases to their Core Funding allocations from the second year due to the increased allocations towards non-staff overheads and administrative staff/time. In addition, a number of targeted supports for small and sessional services were introduced in Year 2 of the scheme in order to improve sustainability of these services, specifically a flat rate top up of €4,075 for sessional-only services and a minimum base rate allocation of €8,150. These measures saw the average allocation under Core Funding for sessional-only service increase by 30% this year.

In a continued commitment to supporting these services, these targeted measures will continue to apply in the 2024/2025 programme year.

The Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration & Youth funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees which provide support and assist families and early learning and childcare providers with early learning and childcare matters.

The Deputy may also be aware that the network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees across the country are in a position to match children and families to services operating with vacant places and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion, particularly where there is unmet need.

Where services close, City/County Childcare Committees have successfully supported the reopening of closed services, a recent example being the Before 5 Family Centre in Cork. In the event of closures, City/County Childcare Committees also assist parents with sourcing alternative early learning and childcare places where possible.

Furthermore, for any service who is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, special supports are available from my Department and can be accessed through local City and County Childcare Committees (CCC). Once a service engages with their local CCC they will be able to avail of supports through the case management process.

Through this process, local CCC and Pobal work together to assess and provide support to ELC and SAC services experiencing difficulties. This support can take the form of general operational supports, assisting with interpreting analysis of staff ratios and cash flow, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to the individual circumstances of a service. In some instances, financial supports may be deemed appropriate in tandem with the case management process.

Financial supports, which may also be accessed through the case management process, are available to all Core Funding Partner Services, both community and private, who are experiencing financial difficulty, following a financial assessment by Pobal. If any service would like to avail of advice or supports on a concern regarding their sustainability, they are encouraged to reach out to their local CCC. Contact details for their local CCC can be found at www.myccc.ie.

Any parent queries can be directed to Kerry County Childcare Committee (phone: 066 7181582, email: info@kerrycountychildcare.com).