Emer Currie (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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208. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measure being taken to address the 25% decrease in the number of services who have listed capacity for children under the age of one on their core funding application; to increase the capacity for children under the age of one more generally across the country; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [39963/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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Early learning and childcare capacity is increasing. Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2023/24 shows that the estimated number of enrolments increased by approximately 19% from the 2021/22 programme year. Core Funding application data shows that between Year 1 and Year 3 of the scheme, annual place hours increased by over 15%. The Tusla register of services demonstrates a net increase in the numbers of registered early learning and childcare services in 2024.

However, it appears that demand for early learning and childcare remains higher than available supply, particularly for younger children and in certain parts of the country.

Core Funding has seen consistent increased State investment to the sector year on year, and is set in year 4 from September 2025 to be worth over €390 million contingent on the establishment of new minimum rates of pay in the sector through updated Employment Regulation Orders (ERO). This is an increase of over 50% since the scheme began in September 2022 with an allocation of €259 million.

The increased Core Funding available from September facilitates:

• Support for providers in meeting the costs of increases in minimum pay rates as a result of newly negotiated Employment Regulation Orders by the independent Joint Labour Committee;
• Increased funding for early learning and care capacity offered to ensure Partner Services can keep pace with rising costs without needing to increase fees charged to parents;
• An increase to the minimum amount of funding a centre-based service will receive, increasing to €14,400 per year from the current level of €14,000;
• A reduction in the maximum allocation for a service's capacity to €450,000 to best spread a limited budget across the entire sector; and
• Funding to support capacity growth of 3.5% across the sector.