Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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283. To ask the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of services that have engaged with the Department regarding the sustainability fund or case management support for services that are having difficulty with viability under core funding; the number of services that have availed of additional supports; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [31217/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Core Funding is a grant to providers designed to support quality, sustainability, and enhanced public management, with associated conditions in relation to fee control and cost transparency, incorporating funding for administration and to support the employment of graduate staff.

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 increased by 11% in year 2 (to €287 million). The scheme increased by a further 15% in year 3 (to €331 million).

The scheme is designed to meet the combined objectives of:

• Improved affordability for parents through the introduction of fee management and contractual requirements on providers to offer the National Childcare Scheme and/or the ECCE programme
• Improved quality through better pay and conditions for the workforce by supporting agreement on Employment Regulation Orders through the Joint Labour Committee and supporting the employment of graduate staff; and
• Improved sustainability and stability for services.

My Department oversees a system of case management through which local CCC assist services with issues and difficulties that arise. More complex or urgent cases are escalated to Pobal, the scheme administrator, who can support with additional expertise, and who also monitor and track these cases and report on them to the Department on a monthly basis (Services of Concern, (SOC) meetings).

Once a service engages with their local CCC they will be able to avail of supports through the case management process.

Through this process, local CCC and Pobal work together to assess and provide support to ELC and SAC services experiencing difficulties. This support can take the form of assisting services with interpreting analysis of staff ratios and cash flow, general operational supports financial support for partner services, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to individual circumstances. In some instances, financial supports may be deemed appropriate in tandem with the case management process.

These supports can be accessed by any Core Funding Partner Service by contacting their local County/City Childcare Committee.

Please see below summary of unique services per calendar year who engaged in case management (Amber/Red Services of Concern) where financial sustainability was the main or part of the issue services were supported with. The number of services that have been included on Amber/Red SOC lists for financial reasons (including cases where multiple issues overlapped):

I would encourage any service experiencing financial difficulty and who would like support to contact their CCC to access case management supports. Contact details for the CCCs can be found at City and County Childcare Committees .