Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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670.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding currently available to afterschool service providers and creches for the provision of services to children with additional needs; if additional funding and/or resources are provided on a once off and/or by way of application to the department as these settings require additional adult to child ratio and his plans to develop a funding scheme in this regard. [25585/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Funding for Tusla registered School Aged Childcare (SAC) is provided through a number of measures including the National Childcare Scheme and Core funding.

Core Funding, the funding scheme introduced in 2022, allocates funding for providers based on the cost of delivery.

The National Childcare Scheme is the first ever statutory entitlement to financial support for childcare. It establishes an equitable and progressive system of universal and income-related subsidies for children up to the age of 15 to reduce the fee paid by parents to services.

Services funded through these measures provide School Aged Childcare to children with a range of needs.

Rolling out from September, Equal Start is a funding model and a set of associated universal and targeted measures to support access and participation in Early Learning and Care and School Aged Childcare for children and their families who experience disadvantage. Equal Start will adopt a tiered approach, which incorporates universal supports, child-targeted supports and setting-targeted supports. A key element available from September 2024 will be the provision of additional staffing to services with higher concentrations of disadvantage. Further details will be made available to services in the coming weeks.

For children with disabilities who may require extra supports, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) is a programme of supports designed to ensure that children with disabilities can access the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme. Its goal is to empower Early Learning and Care (ELC) providers to deliver an inclusive pre-school experience, ensuring that every eligible child can meaningfully participate in the ECCE Programme and reap the benefits of quality early years care and education in any mainstream ELC service. AIM resources are allocated based on a child’s individual needs..

An independent evaluation of AIM was published in January 2024. The findings from the evaluation have already informed the phased extension of AIM announced in Budget 2024, commencing with the extension of targeted AIM supports to ECCE-age children beyond time they spend in the ECCE programme, both in-term and out-of-term from September 2024. Providers will be funded for up to a further 15 hours of capitation per week in term and for 30 hours per week out of term to enable a lower adult-child ratio.

It is intended that over time, all children with additional needs registered in ELC services will have access to supports under AIM. To this end, officials in this Department will also be considering enhancements to, and/or expansion of AIM to 0-3 year olds and then considering further extension to school aged childcare.

Families who require advice are advised to contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC). Contact details are available at myccc.ie