Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North-West, Fianna Fail)
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300. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth her plans to help reduce fees in creches not in the core funding model; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25031/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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There has been very significant progress achieved in relation to affordability through a number of funding schemes over recent years.

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme, which provides two years of pre-school without charge, enjoys participation rates of 96%. Over 70% of families on low income report that they would not be able to send their child to pre-school without this Programme.

The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) complements the ECCE Programme, providing subsidies – both universal and targeted - to reduce the costs to parents for children to participate in early learning and childcare.

The NCS has undergone a number of enhancements in recent years to further improve affordability for parents. These include the extension of the universal subsidy to all children under 15 and two increases to the minimum hourly subsidy, which is now worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours.

Both NCS and ECCE are available to parents regardless of whether or not the early learning and care service their child is attending is participating in Core Funding.

Core Funding is a grant for early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs and is funding directly to providers (supply-side funding) designed to improve affordability, quality, inclusion and sustainability. It has been formulated to be mutually beneficial to both parents and providers.

In particular, in relation to affordability, Core Funding operates a fee management system which controls the extent to which service providers can change the fees charged to parents. The combination of fee management and increased subsides has resulted in very significant affordability improvements for most parents.

Budget 2025 makes additional funding available for year 4 of Core Funding. These increases will bring the full year allocation for year 4 of Core Funding (September 2025-August 2026) to €350.64 million.

In addition to Core Funding, there are other financial supports available from the Department that can respond to specific circumstances of individual services.

I encourage all services to participate in Core Funding and indeed I am pleased that 92% of services are partner services.

The Programme for Government commits to reducing the cost of early learning and childcare to €200 per month per child over the term of government. A detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare system will be developed, informed by stakeholder consultation. This will set out the next steps to achieve further improvements in affordability, building on the progress to date.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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301. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of applications under the building blocks scheme that were received; the number processed by the OPW; the number of projects that have received approval in order for them to go to the e-tender stage, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25034/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched on 4th November 2024. The closing date for applications was 30th January.

A total of 78 applications were received, a mix of applications for purchases by community services, new service construction projects by community services and extension projects by both community and private services. These applications come from a variety of locations across the country.

Applications received were carefully reviewed and appraised against the objectives and criteria of the programme in a fair and impartial process.

Applications received were carefully reviewed and appraised against the objectives and criteria of the programme in a fair and impartial process.

Officials in my Department and Pobal undertook initial eligibility checks.

Eligible applications were appraised in full by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Pobal and officials.

Further checks, clarifications and reviews were undertaken to ensure that all applications were appropriately categorised and scored, ensuring a the same standards applied to all applicants.

A shortlist of services was recently submitted to my office and I was informed about the appraisal process and advised of which of the 78 services were considered ineligible, which are being recommended for funding and which are not being recommended for funding, and the accompanying reasons. I will be announcing the outcome of the appraisals and next steps of the process imminently.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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302. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the reason for the delays in making approvals in the building blocks scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25035/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched on 4th November 2024. The closing date for applications was 30th January.

A total of 78 applications were received, a mix of applications for purchases by community services, new service construction projects by community services and extension projects by both community and private services. These applications come from a variety of locations across the country. Applications received were carefully reviewed and appraised against the objectives and criteria of the programme in a fair and impartial process.

Officials in my Department and Pobal undertook initial eligibility checks.

Eligible applications were appraised in full by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and Pobal and officials.

Further checks, clarifications and reviews were undertaken to ensure that all applications were appropriately categorised and scored, ensuring a the same standards applied to all applicants.

The Project Execution Plan that applicants were required to submit to support their application is a detailed document, prepared by a design team comprising relevant professionals, including architects, surveyors, project managers, engineers etc. It outlines in detail all elements and stages of the project, including drawings, costings, procurement and timescales for delivery and required detailed review and analysis as part of the appraisal process.

A shortlist of services was recently submitted to my office and I was informed by the appraisal process. I will be announcing the outcome of the appraisals and next steps of the process imminently.

Marie Sherlock (Dublin Central, Labour)
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303. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if she will consider extending the end of December deadline for full use of the building blocks funding, in light of the delays to approving the applications submitted in January 2025; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25036/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched on 4th November 2024. The closing date for applications was 30th January.

A total of 78 applications were received, a mix of applications for purchases by community services, new service construction projects by community services and extension projects by both community and private services. These applications come from a variety of locations across the country.

Initial eligibility reviews, a full appraisal process and further suitability checks have been undertaken of the applications. The Office of Public Works and Pobal completed appraisals of eligible applications against three criteria - evidence of need, quality of application and readiness to progress the project - and the scores on these criteria have been collated.

I will be announcing the outcome of the appraisals and next steps of the process imminently.

Applicants were previously advised that works must be completed by year-end. In this regard, officials in my Department will closely monitor the progress of each of the projects, and work with services where issues may arise. My Department will keep the issue of extending the date for completion of works under review.