Duncan Smith (Dublin Fingal East, Labour)
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540. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the policy for the cap on childcare fees for parents whose children attend facilities for less than 50 hours per week (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [53669/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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In June, the Department confirmed the introduction of maximum fee caps for all Partner Services in Core Funding from September 2025. These new maximum fee caps will place a limit on the fees that can be charged across all types of provision. This will reduce costs for families who are facing the highest fees across the country, while promoting fairness in the market by addressing fee income disparity.

Core Funding is a supply-side grant to early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs. It is designed to deliver sustainability for providers through increased funding to the sector, paid on a consistent and equitable basis.

Adherence to the Core Funding fee management system is a primary condition of receiving the significant State funding that is available through the scheme, which has increased from €259 million in year 1 up to €390 million which is currently available for year 4. The fee management system requires compliance with the fee freeze and the maximum fee caps.

Fee caps were first introduced in September 2024, applying initially only to First-Time Partner Services, meaning services that were contracting to the scheme for the first time in year 3 of Core Funding (September 2024 – August 2025). It was clearly signalled in communications circulated to the sector in July 2024 and in the 2024/2025 Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement that fee caps would apply to all Partner Services from September 2025.

The new maximum fee cap and increased State investment are important steps towards the Government’s commitment to progressively reduce the cost of early learning and childcare to €200 per month per child during the lifetime of the Government.

The maximum fee caps are facilitated by the Common Fee Structure, which organises Service Types by weekly hours into six Fee Bands, from Band A (less than 10 hours) up to Band F (50 hours or more).

Under these new fee caps for year 4, the maximum fee for a full day place – of between 40-50 hours per week, the most common full day care operating hours – can be no more than €295 per week (before State subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme and the ECCE programme are deducted). A parent being charged the maximum permissible fee of €295 per week for a 40-50 hour full day care place would be entitled to receive the universal National Childcare Scheme subsidy of €96.30, meaning their own co-payment would be no more than €198.70 per week.

The hours per week and associated maximum fee at each Fee Band refer to the care purchased by a parent for their child on a weekly basis. Fees charged to a parent should be based on the hours that were agreed between the parent and the service, not the maximum hours that are potentially available.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance. Contact details for the City/County Childcare Committee may be found at: www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/city-and-county-childcare-committees

If someone has concerns about a potential breach of Core Funding fee management conditions by a Partner Service, which has occurred during the 2025/2026 Programme Year, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review process.

The first point of contact before any Fee Review Stage is initiated, is with your local CCC. If your local CCC receives a query where a potential fee increase is raised, they can get this examined through the Core Funding Fee Review Process. Further detail on this process is available in the Guidelines on Fee Management section on the Early Years Hive: Guidelines on Fee Management - Service Provider Portal.