Aindrias Moynihan (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)
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632. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the current demand for the early childhood care and education scheme in Cork county and Cork city; how any deficits are being identified and resolved; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29759/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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Ensuring access to quality and affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority of Government.

I have recently established a new Supply Management Unit in the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare division of my Department.

This unit is currently undertaking a forward planning project to identify the quantum and volume of different types of early learning and childcare places across the country, whether or not those places are occupied and how that aligns with the numbers of children in the corresponding age cohorts at local area level.

The Early Childhood Care and Education programme (ECCE) provides funding for sessional pre school for children from the age of 2 years and 8 months for the two years before children begin primary school. Places are offered for 15 hours a week over 38 weeks per year at no cost to parents.

For the August 2023 - June 24 programme year there were 12,319 unique children with an approved ECCE registration in Cork City and County, with approximately a 2:1 ratio of county versus city registrations.

At a national level, there is high take up of the ECCE programme of 96% of children in the relevant age bracket. Available evidence indicates that there is generally sufficient number of ECCE places to meet demand, albeit that there may be some instances of undersupply of ECCE places in certain specific locations.

In addition to ECCE, my Department has in place a range of supports and funding schemes to support the delivery of early learning and childcare places by independently operated services, whether community not-for-profit or by private for-profit providers. The level of capacity in the sector has risen substantially year-on-year between 2022 and 2023 as evidenced by survey data collected by Pobal, by administrative data from Core Funding and the National Childcare Scheme and registration data collected by Tusla.

However, there is also evidence that demand for places is increasing and, for certain cohorts and in certain areas, outstripping supply. This is partly driven by the significant improvements in affordability that have been achieved in recent years and I acknowledge that some families experience challenges in accessing places, particularly for younger children.

The design of funding schemes and the increased allocation of resources to the sector is supporting ongoing expansion of capacity, and in particular for young children. The rates of both the National Childcare Scheme and Core Funding weighted towards funding for young children given the higher staff costs that are required to operate at lower ratios.

Additionally, capital funding has been allocated to the early learning and childcare sector under the revised National Development Plan (NDP). This will enable significant investment in further expansion of capacity. The Building Blocks Grant schemes are focused on increasing the number of full and part-time places available for 1-3 year olds. Appraisal of applications for these scheme considers the supply and demand in the area around the proposed projects and seeks to prioritise funding for areas with the biggest supply/demand mismatch.