Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour)
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655. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 712 of 24 June 2025, her plans to amend core funding to restrict the keeping of deposits where a child does not avail of a place, either at all, or within a prescribed period; and her plans to review the rates of maximum deposits that can be charged. [35979/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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I would like to thank the Deputy for the additional query in relation to Parliamentary Question No.712 of 24 June 2025.

As noted in the aforementioned Parliamentary Question, my Department is committed to ongoing engagement on this matter and will consider wider changes to Core Funding deposit rules for the 2026/2027 programme year. These considerations will include a review of the restrictions around deposits.

I would like to note that under the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme, which is administered by Pobal on the Department’s behalf, has comprehensive rules relating to deposits. For example,

• Services may not, under any circumstances, extract ECCE fees from parents/guardians including non-refundable and optional extra deposits.
• ECCE approved providers must give an accurate description and the total cost of a deposit requested on its Fee Table.
• The maximum deposit a provider may charge is equivalent to 4 weeks ECCE payment. This must appear on the Fee Table.
• The full ECCE deposit must be returned to the Parent/Guardian once the child’s registration has been approved on the EY HIVE.
• If a service is holding a legacy deposit from when the child first started attending the service that exceeds 4 times the weekly capitation amount for a child, €276 of that deposit must be returned to the Parent/Guardian once the child’s ECCE registration has been approved on the EY HIVE.
• An ECCE Approved Provider must retain all financial records relating to deposits from parents/guardians and evidence of return.