Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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793. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the core funding levels of support per hour to childcare providers; the payments for specific additional elements delivered, which will apply for the coming school year; the level of increase in each case compared to last year; and the estimated number of providers and children served by those who have continued operating under the scheme and by those who have left the scheme. [51898/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The calculation of a services Core Funding grant contains multiple elements – the Base Rate, Graduate Premiums, Targeted Measures and the new Staff Funding Additional Contribution.

The base rate, which is the majority of the allocation, provides funding on the basis of a services staffed capacity. It is calculated as the number of places offered multiplied by the hours for which those places are offered multiplied by the applicable hourly rate from Table 1 below.

Unlike other funding streams within the Department, a place does not need to be filled for a service to receive funding, but the service does need to have the necessary staffing in place to meet the regulatory adult to child ratios.

Table 1: Hourly rates payable through the Base Rate from 1 September 2025

The graduate premiums provide additional funding on the basis of graduate leadership in a service. Both the Graduate Lead Educator Premium and the Graduate Manager Premium are paid out a rate of €4.44 per graduate-led hour for early learning and childcare provision.

The targeted measures consist of a flat rate top-up for sessional-only services, a minimum base rate allocation and a maximum base rate allocation. The flat rate top-up for sessional-only services is paid out at an annual rate of €5,000 per service or a weekly rate of €96.15 to services who are registered with Tusla to offer only sessional provision.

The minimum base rate allocation is currently set at €14,400. Any centre-based service whose base rate allocation (and flat rate allocation where applicable) falls below this level will see their grant automatically topped up to the minimum allocation.

The maximum base rate allocation is currently set at €450,000. No service will receive more than this amount in respect of their capacity. The Graduate Premiums and Staff Funding Additional Contribution are applied separately and can bring a services allocation above the minimum or maximum value.

This year, a new element of the calculation was introduced to distribute the new funding ring-fenced for improvements to staff pay and conditions – called the Staff Funding Additional Contribution. Data available to the Department shows that the 2022 and 2024 Employment Regulation Orders did not absorb all of the available Core Funding signalled for staff pay and graduate leaders in previous years. The amount of funding released from the ring-fenced funding will therefore be proportionate to the cost of the agreed EROs, with a maximum of €1.14 payable per hour through the Staff Funding Additional Contribution.

The calculation of the Staff Funding Additional Contribution per service is linked to the staffing requirements set out by regulations and reflects that the funding that has been available for graduate-led provision for the previous three years can and should be facilitating higher rates of pay for graduates. It will be calculated as:

Minimum staffing hours minus Graduate Lead Educator Premium hours multiplied by a maximum of €1.14 per eligible hour

This funding is ring-fenced for staff pay and conditions and can only be used for this purpose. The release of the funding is contingent on the establishment of updated Employment Regulation Orders by the independent Joint Labour Committee.

It is important to note that although there are various elements used to derive the grants for individual services, the eligible areas of expenditure of the Core Funding grant are much broader. Services can choose how to spend their Core Funding grant in accordance with the approved areas of expenditure outlined in the Funding Agreement. The Staff Funding Additional Contribution is the only element of the grant which has a prescribed use.

The increase to each element of the grant going from year 3 (2024/2025) to year 4 (2025/2026) is outlined below in tabular format. The year 4 allocation reflects increases secured in Budget 2025 to facilitate 3.5% capacity growth and to ensure that providers have increased income to continue to be able to meet rising costs whilst maintaining an effective fee freeze.

The Staff Funding Additional Contribution is a newly introduced element of the grant designed to distribute the ring-fenced funding for improving staff pay and conditions, contingent on the establishment of updated Employment Regulation Orders. €45 million is available for this purpose.

Table 2: Breakdown of the funding allocated to each element of Core Funding in Year 3 and Year 4

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. In May 2025, there were 8,016 unique children registered for ECCE, NCS and/or CSSP across these services for the 2024/2025 programme year.

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. In May 2025, there were 17,583 unique children registered for ECCE, NCS and/or CSSP across these services for the 2024/2025 programme year.

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. In May 2025, there were 209,942 unique children registered for ECCE, NCS and/or CSSP across these services for the 2024/2025 programme year.

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, with a greater number of services signed up to the scheme than on the same date last year. Every year there are a number of services who sign up to Core Funding in the weeks following the commencement of the programme year and services are still in the process of registering children on the other schemes. Officials in the Department will be working to update these figures, reflecting an accurate assessment regarding participation in the fourth year of the scheme and the number of unique children registered for subsidies across the services.

The Department will continue to engage with the sector, and continue to develop the scheme so that it can continue to see the high uptake levels it has seen this year, and indeed since it was launched in 2022.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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794. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the maximum level of hourly support paid under the NCS in different age categories for those on lowest incomes, allowing the highest rate of payment; the rate for those at the highest level of income who still qualify for some premium over the universal rate; and the way in which the intermediate rate payable to a particular family is calculated. [51899/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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As of 2 September 2024, the minimum rate for the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) increased from €1.40 to €2.14. The increase was introduced as part of Budget 2024 measures and means that parents now receive a higher subsidy rate towards their childcare fees.

With this new rate, the maximum level of hourly support according to age for the lowest level of income is detailed below:

Applicants with a reckonable income of €60,000 or above will receive the minimum subsidy rate of €2.14, regardless of their child’s age, until they reach 15 years of age and are no longer eligible for the scheme. For applicants with a reckonable income that is immediately under €60,000, rates are outlined below:

However, it should be noted that the hourly subsidy awarded to each family under the income-assessed application is greatly dependent on the family's individual circumstances. In terms of how rates are calculated, applicants will receive varying rates depending on factors such as the family’s reckonable income, child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in the family. This variability should be borne in mind when considering Income-Assessed rates.

The following formula is used to calculate the rate of subsidy:

Rate per hour = NS + ((XS - NS) (MT - RI)/(MT - BT))

• NS = the minimum subsidy rate €2.14,
• XS = the maximum subsidy rate (which varies by age and education status),
• MT = the maximum income threshold (€60,000),
• BT = the base income threshold (€26,000), and
• RI = the reckonable income.

• A multiple child discount of €4,300 if families have 2 children under 15.
• A multiple child discount of €8,600 if families have 3 or more children under 15.
• Pension contributions, within the limit allowed by Revenue.
• Maintenance payments made to a child or a former spouse.

Naoise Ó Muirí (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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795. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the eligibility criteria for a child to participate in the free early childhood care and education scheme; and the hourly or weekly rate payable to providers that deliver service under the scheme. [51900/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal free two-year programme available to all children within the eligible age range. A child must have turned 2 years and 8 months on or before 31st August in the programme year and not turn 5 years and 6 months on or before June 30th the following year, to be eligible for the ECCE programme.

The ECCE Programme is provided for 3 hours per day, 5 days per week over 38 weeks per programme year. The weekly ECCE capitation paid to the service provider is €69.00 per child per week with a pro rata reduction where ECCE registration is less than 5 days.

Full details of ECCE and other childcare schemes funded by my Department can be found at: earlyyearshive.ncs.gov.ie/downloads/