Joe Neville (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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122. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the work her Department is undertaking to improve transparency in childcare fees; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61902/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Department is committed to ensuring improved transparency in relation to childcare fees across Ireland.

The Expert Group’s Partnership for the Public Good report, which was accepted by all of Government in December 2021, recommended that improvements to fee transparency are pursued in the context of broader fee control measures.

Core Funding, which was launched in September 2022 on foot of the recommendations contained in the Expert Group’s report, has implemented a number of changes through its fee management system. These include a fee freeze at September 2021 rates for all services contracted to the Scheme; the introduction of a single fee table that covers every scheme on each service’s Parent Statement; and the digitalisation of fee information on the Hive so that parents can compare prices between services.

In their report, the Expert Group supported movement toward a common fee structure for all Partner Services, and the fee table contained within the Parent Statement is the key infrastructure on which this can be built. New measures such as fee caps and controlled fee increases, working in association with a fee freeze, represent a further development of the fee management system under Core Funding and mark the next step toward achieving the medium- and long-term goals outlined in the Expert Group’s report.

Additionally, as part of Core Funding year 4, the Department has commenced a new process whereby each service that underwent a Fee Increase Assessment in year 3 must have their fee table approved by their local City/County Childcare Committee. This approval process includes checks that services are abiding by fee management rules, and that their fee tables are clear and transparent for parents.

The list of services that were approved to increase their fees through the Fee Increases Assessment process will also be published.

The Department is aware that there were recent issues with access to historical fee lists. I am pleased to confirm that this is now resolved and that fees from the 2021/2022 programme year to the present programme year are now available on the National Childcare Scheme’s Childcare Service Search.

This welcome development ensures improved transparency in relation to early learning and childcare fees across the country.

If parents have queries about fees, they can also contact their local City/County Childcare Committee.

Childcare Committees support parents and guardians to understand their early learning and childcare options and keep an updated directory of early learning and childcare services in their local areas. They can also provide information and support in relation to fees.

The contact details for all thirty Childcare Committees are available on gov.ie