Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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1769.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will address a matter raised in correspondence (details supplied) in relation to childcare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31461/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I announced on 2 July, details of Year 3 of Core Funding worth €331 million, which will run from September 2024 to August 2025. This is an increase of €44 million (15%) on the current programme year. This funding will accompany new developments to the scheme rules to support services as well as children and their families.

The increases I announced will support expanded capacity, particularly capacity for children under three and stability of income to services, particularly low-income services. Since its introduction, I have pledged to grow Core Funding and I have delivered on that.

For the third programme year, my Department will introduce a process whereby services whose fees are below their county average can apply for an assessment to increase their fees to an approved level.

This will be an application-based process whereby a Partner Service, as a private business offering a service for the Public Good, will undergo an assessment to determine the need to increase fees. Where the need is identified, permission will be granted to increase fees to a level determined by the Department.

This measure must balance the need of parents/guardians for stability with their early learning and childcare costs and the need for providers to operate viable businesses in order to continue providing this Public Good service for their community. Therefore, a core element of this process is the requirement to demonstrate the need for an approved fee increase.

Partner Services must meet the following eligibility criteria in order to be assessed for an approved fee increase:

• Have submitted their 2022/2023 financial returns, if the service was a Partner Service in contract for any part of the first year of Core Funding.
• Have submitted their 2024/2025 Partner Service fee table on the Early Years Platform (EYP), and confirmed the accuracy of the information contained in this through the submission of their 2024/2025 Partner Service Parent Statement.
• Have activated a Funding Agreement for Core Funding 2024/2025 on the EYP.
• A minimum of one of their fee entries must be below the county average.

• Phase 1 Partner Services who have not increased their fees since programme year 2017/18
• or before. Applications open on 31 July 2024.
• Phase 2 Partner Services who have not increased their fees from programme year 2018/19
• to September 2021. Applications open on 7 August 2024.
• Phase 3 All other Partner Services. Applications open on 19 August 2024

Supports are available from my Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, accessed through local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC).