Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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95. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he is concerned that allowing childcare facilities to increase their fees has eroded the 2 September national childcare scheme subsidy increase for parents; if core funding will be increased in order that childcare facilities will not have to increase their fees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38150/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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To be eligible for Core Funding for the 2023/2024 programme year, it is necessary for all Partner Services to agree to the Core Funding Fee Management terms and conditions as laid out in the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement, and the fee management guidelines. These terms and conditions require services not to increase the fees charged to parents above what was charged on 30 September 2021.

For the third programme year, the Department has introduced 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 is 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.

Any approved fee increases will not go above the increased universal NCS subsidy that a parent would be receiving for the full hours offered within the fee. This means that parents receiving the universal NCS subsidy for the full hours offered in these services will not face higher costs.

This was to ensure that the impact on parents of approved fee increases are controlled as much as possible for example, parents on the universal subsidy using the full hours of their session will not see any further out of pocket costs.

For example, an offering of 45 or more hours a week can be approved for an increase of no more than €33.30 a week. This was to ensure that the impact on parents of approved fee increases is controlled as much as possible.

Partner Services who increase their fees without entering the Fee Increase process will be in breach of the Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement.

Where an individual identifies a case of a potential breach of Core Funding fee rules by a service, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review process.

The Department would encourage any parent with concerns or questions about fees to contact their local CCC for support and guidance or to initiate a Core Funding Fee Review. The first point of contact for parents and providers in the Core Funding fee review process is their local CCC. Contact details for CCCs may be found on .

Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent)
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96. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth to provide a list of all childcare facilities in Donegal that are funded under the national childcare scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38183/24]

Roderic O'Gorman (Dublin West, Green Party)
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The Scheme Administrator advises that there are 153 providers in Donegal that are currently in contract to provide NCS. I have arranged to forward these details to the TD directly.

A list of these services can also be found on the Childcare Service Search page of the NCS website, where full details, including fees and service types, of all providers currently contracted to the NCS can be found. This information and further resources in relation to the NCS can be found at www.ncs.gov.ie .

Parents may wish to contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) for advice and support in relation to childcare places in a given locality. A list of CCC’s can be found at www.myccc.ie. Alternatively, the NCS Parent Support Centre is also available to assist parents, and can be contacted on 01 906 8530, Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm.