Written answers

Monday, 9 September 2024

Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth

Childcare Services

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1345.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if, in view of the withdrawal of a crèche (details supplied) in Rathfarnham from the core funding scheme, and resultant significant increases in fees for parents, he will outline the action he intends to take to ensure affordable childcare is available in the area.[34251/24]

Photo of Paul MurphyPaul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1441.To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the action he will take to ensure that affordable childcare is available in Rathfarnham following the withdrawal of a crèche (details supplied) from the core funding scheme, and the resultant significant increases in fees for parents.[34786/24]

Photo of Roderic O'GormanRoderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1345 and 1441 together.

The service referred to by the Deputy has been in contract for Core Funding since the scheme was introduced in 2022. The service received €481,157.98 in year 1 of Core Funding and, as of June this year, the service had an approved contract value of €498,003.32 for year 2 of the scheme.

As of 2 September, the service referenced has contracted into Core Funding for programme year 3.

Year 3 of the scheme (September 2024 – August 2025) sees significant further investment with the budget increasing by 15% to €331m. The increased measures include:

  • The Base Rates for all age groups increasing, with larger increases in funding for places offered to children under the age of three.
  • The flat rate for services registered on the Tusla Early Years Register as sessional only is increasing from €4,075 to €5,000.
  • The minimum Base Rate allocation is increasing from €8,150 to €14,000. This is the minimum amount of funding a centre-based service (not childminders) will receive through their Base Rate and ensures a minimum guaranteed income for services.
  • The maximum Base Rate allocation is decreasing from €600,000 to €500,000. Up to now, services availing of Core Funding have not been allowed to raise their fees above what was charged to parents on 30 September 2021 (or at the point of first signing up for Core Funding if the service did not exist on 30 September 2021).
While this fee freeze will remain in place for the majority of services for year 3 of Core Funding, my Department has introduced:
  • a new Fee Increase Assessment and Approval Process whereby a Partner Service meeting certain criteria may apply to increase their fees up to an approved level, and
  • a cap on fees for services joining Core Funding for the first time this year. This will extend to all services from September 2025.
In addition to Core Funding and the fee increase assessment and approval process, supports are available from my Department where a partner service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, which can be accessed while remaining within Core Funding. The supports can be accessed through local City or County Childcare Committee (CCC). I would strongly encourage services to avail of these supports as an alternative to withdrawing from Core Funding and removing the benefit of Core Funding to children and their families.

Some Providers may choose to withdraw from Core Funding or not participate/sign up for Year 3 of the Core Funding scheme, therefore, as private businesses, are free to set their own fees and/or increase fees if they wish to do so.

Once contracted into Core Funding services who wish to withdraw must give 3 months’ notice to the scheme administrator of their intention to withdraw.

Core Funding remains open to all eligible providers. To date, over 4,000 providers have either started or submitted their Core Funding application – a figure that is on par with this time last year.

For a list of Partner services, and individual year Core Funding allocations please visit the Together for Better website, at first5fundingmodel.gov.ie/together-for-better/.

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