Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)
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661. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she can advise in relation to correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6126/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Deputy for raising this query with my Department.

The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding. This funding, which increased by 11% (to €287 million) in year 2, was increased again by another 15% in year 3 (to €331 million).

Fee management was introduced with the substantial investment of Core Funding following the recommendations of the Expert Group, in the Partnership for Public Good report. The first step of this process, which was approved by Government, was to limit increases in fee rates.

As part of the progressive development of the fee management system under Core Funding, the Department introduced new developments to fee management in year 3 of Core Funding.

The Fee Increase Assessment process and the introduction of a fee cap are the first steps to further advance this system of fee management in line with the recommendations outlined in Partnership for Public Good.

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).

The fee freeze will remain in place for the majority of these services for year 3 of Core Funding, however, services whose fees have been frozen at a level that may not be sufficient to sustain their business even with increased funding available through Core Funding, had the opportunity to apply for a Fee Increase Assessment. This process closed for applications 29 November 2024.

Only services charging low fees (fees below the average in their county) were eligible to apply. The onus was on the provider to demonstrate a need for a fee increase.

The Fee Increase Assessment process must balance the need of parents 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. As such, my Department has placed limits on the scale of any approved increase to ensure services can continue to operate with protections in place for parents/guardians.

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 compared to this time last year.

Once the service was deemed eligible to enter into the application stage of the process, my Department issued a letter of notice of potential fee increase to services for issue to parents/guardians.

My Department will issue a letter to Partner Services who have been approved for a fee increase. This letter will include the new maximum fee which can be charged by the service, and the date it can be implemented from. The service must show this letter to parents/guardians before any fee increase takes place. A Partner Service will have to update the Partner Service Parent Statement. This must be circulated to parents within 10 working days of the sanctioned detailed fee increases being provided to parents.

Parents/guardians and their children can only avail of the benefits and protections that Core Funding creates, such as the effective fee freeze at 2021 levels, if their service has chosen to participate in the scheme as a Partner Service. Some Providers may choose to no longer participate in Core Funding and therefore, as private businesses, they are free to set their own fees. If such a service did choose to increase fees, this would not be in the controlled manner that the Fee Increase Assessment process under Core Funding creates.

If any parent /guardian has any concerns or questions about their fees or in the event that an individual wishes to raise a concern regarding a potential breach in fee conditions, the first step is to reach out to their local City and County Childcare Committee for support and guidance. Contact details for local City and County Childcare Committees can be found at gov.ie - City and County Childcare Committees .

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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662. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the measures being taken to address the shortage in childcare places (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [6130/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Increasing access to affordable early learning and childcare is a key priority of government.

Last year, a Supply Management Unit within the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare Division was established, and the Programme for Government articulates an intention that the unit be resourced and transformed into a Forward Planning and Delivery Unit to identify areas of need, forecast demand, and deliver public supply within the childcare sector where required.

A key part of the Supply Management Unit’s remit is to develop capacity for monitoring, analysing, and forecasting of the supply and demand for early learning and childcare. The development of a forward planning model is currently underway utilising the expertise of statisticians on secondment from the Central Statistics Office, an early learning and childcare expert from a County Childcare Committee and a GIS mapper working with the Department. The model will seek to identify the nature and volume of different types of early learning and childcare places across the country and how that aligns with the numbers of children in the corresponding age cohorts at local area level. This model will assist my Department in identifying where unmet need/demand and areas of low supply exist.

This forward planning model will be a central element of my Department's plans to achieve the policy goals set out in the Programme for Government to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system, with State-led facilities adding capacity. This will enhance parental choice through support for public, private and community provision as well as childminders.

One way in which Government is supporting the expansion of capacity is through capital funding. The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched on the 4th of November 2024. Applications for this scheme have now closed and an appraisal process has begun. The primary focus of the Extension Grant Scheme is to increase capacity in the 1–3-year-old, pre-ECCE, age range for full day care.

Appraisal of applications for this scheme will consider the supply and demand in the area around the proposed projects and seeks to prioritise funding for areas with the biggest supply/demand mismatch. €25m will be made available this year to deliver additional capacity under the Scheme and I expect to announce the outcome of the application process in March.

My Department also funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) which provide support to families and early learning and childcare providers. The network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees across the country are in a position to assist in identifying vacant places in services for children and families who need them and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) for assistance. Contact details for County Kerry CCC may be found at www.kerrycountychildcare.com