Written answers
Tuesday, 8 July 2025
Department of Children, Disability and Equality
Childcare Services
Barry Ward (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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740. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the position regarding creches not participating in the core funding scheme; if her attention has been drawn to the concerns of parents who will by extension not benefit from the fee cap coming in September; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37662/25]
Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Both the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Programme and the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) are currently available to parents regardless of whether or not the early learning and childcare service their child is attending is participating in Core Funding.
These schemes have made a significant impact on improving affordability of early learning and childcare for families.
The ECCE Programme, which provides two years of pre-school without charge, enjoys participation rates of 96%. In a recent review of the ECCE Programme, over 70% of families on low income reported that they would not have been 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 years of age, and two increases to the minimum hourly subsidy, which is now worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours.
In addition, since September 2024 childminders have been able to register with Tusla and take part in the National Childcare Scheme, and families who use childminders are therefore also now able to benefit from National Childcare Scheme subsidies. Childminders and parents can find out more through contacting their local City / County Childcare Committee. Contact details are available at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/city-and-county-childcare-committees/
Core Funding, which was introduced in 2022, operates alongside all other early learning and childcare programmes and constitutes additional income to services on top of these programmes, and parental fees.
There is high participation rates among services, with 92% of providers participating in year 3 of the scheme.
It is a matter for providers to decide whether they wish to sign up to or withdraw from the Core Funding scheme, the significant financial supports it provides to providers and the certainty it provides to parents through the associated fee management measures. Should a provider choose not to avail or no longer participate in Core Funding, as private businesses, they are free to set their own fees.
However, Core Funding will remain open to these providers should they subsequently commit to offering services under the conditions and investment levels on offer through Core Funding.
The new Programme for Government commits to review and increase Core Funding, ensure that providers’ fees are open, transparent and equitable and readily available to parents, and to maintaining the fee cap.
An evaluation of the first year of Core Funding and the development of an evaluation framework for Core Funding is currently underway. This project will examine the early implementation of Core Funding and make recommendations for future evaluations of the grant. Findings from the project are expected in Quarter 4 2025.
This project is being undertaken by Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES) policy analysts working in the Research and Evaluation Unit of my Department.
IGEES is an integrated cross-government service established in 2012 with the objective of enhancing the role of economics and value for money analysis in public policy making. It is part of the Department of Public Expenditure, NDP Delivery and Reform.
Parents can use the following website to find Core Funding Partner Services in their area at: www.ncs.gov.ie/en/childcare-search/
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