Carol Nolan (Offaly, Independent)
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331. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if funding options are available from her Department, or any agency under the aegis of her Department, to support persons who wish to establish a pre-school business; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26453/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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My Department supports the ongoing development of existing and new services in the sector through its range of funding schemes and support infrastructure including City and County Childcare Committees.

In particular the Core Funding scheme, which has operated since 2022, offers supply side funding to services and has given rise to a significant expansion of places since the scheme was first introduced.

Core Funding, which is in its third programme year, funds services based on the number of places available. This provides stability to services, and reduces the risk associated with opening a new service or expanding an already existing service. For the current programme year, the allocation for Core Funding allows for a 6% increase in capacity. Additional funding was secured in Budget 2025 to facilitate a further 3.5% increase from September 2025, in the fourth programme year. Increased capacity can come from existing services or newly established services that join the scheme.

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 supply within the sector where required.

A forward planning model is in development which will be central to 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.

The Programme for Government commits for the first time to provide capital investment to build or purchase state-owned early learning and childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. State ownership of facilities is a very substantial and significant development and offers the potential for much greater scope to influence the nature and volume of provision available and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand.

The capital funding available to my Department in 2025 is focused on supporting the expansion of provision by existing services to offer more full day places for children aged 1-3. This is being administered through the Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme, and I recently announced the shortlisted applicants for that funding.

My Department is currently considering the possibilities for future capital programmes, in the context of the Programme for Government commitments and subject to the capital allocation to be made available through the revision to the National Development Plan.