Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Investment in early learning and childcare is at unprecedented levels with public funding exceeding €1.1 billion in 2024 for early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector.

The overwhelming majority of this funding is allocated through Together for Better, the new funding model, which comprises the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE programme), including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), and Core Funding, with a fourth programme, Equal Start in development.

One of the key objectives of Core Funding is to support the sector as a whole with the introduction of direct supply-side funding, in addition to the ECCE programme and the NCS, to create a more stable and sustainable financial environment.

Since the introduction of Core Funding in September 2022 there has been a steady reduction of closures of ELC services in Dublin compared to previous years. 2023 is the first full calendar year services had the option to sign up to Core Funding, and compared to 2021, the most recent year calendar without Core Funding there is has been an 18% decrease in ELC closures nationally.

For Year 2 of Core Funding, the budget has increased by 11% to reach €287 million, providing a sustainable platform for investment with increases for all services.

• The additional funding for Core Funding Year 2 is being allocated as follows:€8.47 million towards funding the natural growth of the sector,
• €6.11 million towards non-staff overheads, to support services with increases to non-staff costs, while maintaining the fee management system,
• €2.2 million towards administrative staff time,
• €4 million towards the removal the year 3 requirement for the Graduates Premiums, underpinned by EROs, and
• €7.22 million for new targeted measures which are aimed at improving the sustainability of smaller and sessional services. These include a flat rate allocation of €4,075 for all sessional-only services, which will benefit approximately 1,700 services delivering ECCE, and a minimum base rate allocation of €8,150, which will benefit small, part time and school-age services.

Budget 2024 allocated an additional €37.4m to Core Funding. This increase on the 2023 allocation will support continued implementation of the scheme for the second programme year (September 2023 to August 2024) and into the third programme year from September 2024.

With additional funding of €14.65 million being made available from September 2024, this translates into a full year allocation of €331 million for year 3 of Core Funding, an increase of €44 million, or 15%, on the current allocation of €287 million.

This will support the delivery of a range of enhancements in Year 3 of the scheme to support improved affordability and accessibility for families, improved pay and conditions for the workforce and improved sustainability for providers.

Special supports are available from my Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, accessed through local City or County Childcare Committee (CCC). This support can take the form of assisting services with interpreting analysis of staff ratios and cash flow, financial support for partner services, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to individual circumstances.

I would encourage any service experiencing financial difficulty and who would like support to contact their City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) to access case management supports.

Additionally, I would encourage any parent with concerns or questions regarding childcare to contact their local CCC for support and guidance. Contact details for the CCCs can be found at myccc.ie/ .

Every year it is normal for some early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services to close while other new services open.

Tusla is the independent statutory regulator for ELC and SAC services and is responsible for maintaining the register of services. Where an ELC or SAC service ceases operations, the registered provider is required by law to advise Tusla of this and the service will then be removed from the public register. Tusla provides the Department with the verified closure and new registration figures. Tusla only collect data broken down by county and so they have presented the data for new service registrations and service closures for County Dublin.

It should be noted that the school age data includes both combined and standalone services. This means that the ELC and SAC figures should not be totalled together, as it would include services that are counted in both ELC and SAC.

-	2020		2021		2022		2023		2024 Jan March
-	New	Closed	New	Closed	New	Closed	New	Closed	New	Closed
Pre-School	20	63	14	40	19	43	17	34	2	3
School Age	149	4	256	4	63	12	54	33	3	4