Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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397. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if a community childcare service (details supplied) has been included in the initial list of 800 services identified for funding through the Equal Start funding model. [23662/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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On Monday 20 May, I launched Equal Start, a major new model of government-funded supports to ensure children experiencing disadvantage can access and meaningfully participate in early learning and childcare.

Equal Start comprises of both targeted and universal supports aimed at children, services and parents/families. These supports will be rolled out on a phased basis by 2028 with certain targeted measures to be made available from September 2024.

These supports will fall in to three categories:

• Universal supports available to all partner services,
• Supports targeted at services with higher concentrations of disadvantage,
• Individual children and families experiencing disadvantage.

These are:

• Children and families experiencing socio-economic disadvantage
• Children from a Traveller or Roma ethnic background
• children experiencing homelessness
• Children from international migrant families including those living in an International Protection Accommodation Centre or Emergency Orientation and Reception Centres (EROC).
• Children sponsored through the National Childcare Scheme

It is important to emphasise that the model provides for supports at universal and child level regardless of whether the service is on the aforementioned list. These supports will become available in future phases of the Equal Start rollout.

As the identification process is currently being finalised it would not be appropriate to preempt the final list. All services will be notified of their status in Equal Start in the coming weeks.