James Geoghegan (Dublin Bay South, Fine Gael)
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1316. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps she is taking to address issues with the national childcare scheme, as raised in correspondence (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10829/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Many families avail of the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) as a way to reduce the cost of their early learning and childcare. NCS subsidies are awarded as an hourly rate, along with a maximum number of weekly hours that the subsidy will be paid for. It is between the parent and provider to agree on the hours of childcare based on the family's requirements and what sessions the provider can offer.

The subsidy is paid based on these agreed hours, and subject to the rules of non-attendance. This is a key financial and governance control to ensure that Exchequer funding is used responsibly, and not to fund full-time places in respect of a child actually attending part-time hours.

This said, the rules of the Scheme are designed to be very flexible and we recognise that there are many reasons why a child’s attendance may be occasionally less than their agreed hours. For instance, as the question details, a parent may be able to collect their child earlier than usual on occasion. This will not affect their award, or the subsidy received. It is only if continual under-attendance is recorded for a consecutive 12 weeks will the award be revised.

In full detail, if a child attends fewer than their agreed hours for a consecutive 8 week period, a warning will issue to the parent alerting them to the situation. At this point, if the child attends their agreed hours for a full week after this warning is issued, then no further action is taken. However, if the under-attendance continues for a further four weeks, the number of subsidised hours awarded under the Scheme will be revised to reflect the average number of hours that were actually attended by the child over the previous 12-week period.

Similarly, if a child has been continuously absent for four consecutive weeks, the system will automatically issue a warning notification to both parent and provider to say that the subsidy for the child will be suspended if the absence continues. If the child has already returned to the service when this warning is issued (in the 5th week) it may be ignored as there will be no break in subsidy if the absence lasts no longer than four weeks.

Please note that the accurate recording of a child’s attendance is a core obligation under the Child Care Act 1991 (Early Years Services) Regulations 2016 for early years providers and is one of the conditions set out in the funding agreement.