Grace Boland (Dublin Fingal West, Fine Gael)
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2013. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare providers in north county Dublin that have withdrawn from CORE funding since its introduction; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47090/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In the interest of clarity, transparency and consistent reporting, I have defined a service that left Core Funding as any service that had a gap between contracts for Core Funding of 4 or more weeks. There are a number of reasons that a service might fall into this definition, for example a service could have withdrawn from the scheme, been removed from the scheme for breach or rules, or experienced a delay in re-contracting following a change of circumstance application or between programme years. In relation to withdrawals specifically, services may choose to leave the scheme mid-year for a multitude of reasons including being denied a fee increase, temporary closures, financial difficulties and administrative requirements. Many services have left and later re-joined the scheme. There may be a small number of services who left the scheme and subsequently closed at a later date and are not captured in the figures below.

As of 5 August 2025, there were 4,807 services listed as being open on the Early Years Platform, of which 141 (3%) had left Core Funding at one point over the past 3 years and continue to operate outside of this scheme. A further 336 services (7%) had left Core Funding at one point over the past 3 years but later rejoined and are currently signed up to the third year of the scheme. The overwhelming majority of services, 4,056 or 84%, have continued to participate in Core Funding from the date on which they first signed up for the scheme.

The fourth year of Core Funding began on 1 September 2025 and uptake continues to remain on par with the same point in previous years. Every year there are a number of services who sign up to Core Funding in the weeks following the commencement of the programme year. For this reason, it is not yet possible to make an accurate assessment regarding whether further services have made the decision to no longer participate in Core Funding.

A breakdown by the four county divisions across Dublin is below in tabular format.

As Core Funding is a supply-side grant to early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs, my Department does not hold individualised fee data for parents as these are local agreements between parents and providers. However, The National Childcare Scheme (NCS), is a subsidy provided to help parents to meet the cost of childcare and allow children to access Early Learning Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC), to reduce the costs to parents for children to participate in ELC and SAC.

While my Department cannot mandate providers to participate in schemes, every effort has been made to carefully design Core Funding to meet the policy objectives including to achieve high levels of participation by providers.

It is a matter for providers to decide whether they wish to 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 freeze. However, I am confident that given the level of investment and associated supports, services should not need to take this step.

Participation in Core Funding is optional, but it remains open to all registered providers subject to their agreement to the terms and conditions of the funding. It is a matter for providers to decide whether they wish to sign up to Core Funding, the significant financial supports it offers to providers and the certainty it gives to parents through the associated fee management measures.

Additionally, my Department funds 30 City/County Childcare Committees, which provide support and assist families and early learning and childcare providers. The network of 30 City/County Childcare Committees across the country can assist in identifying vacant places in services for children and families who need them and engage proactively with services to explore possibilities for expansion among services, particularly where there is unmet need.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance. For information, my Department has a list of all Core Funding Partner Services, which is updated regularly on the website, under How to Find a Partner Service.