Maeve O'Connell (Dublin Rathdown, Fine Gael)
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97. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality for an update regarding her Department’s review of core funding. [61423/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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An evaluation of the first year of Core Funding and the development of an evaluation framework for Core Funding is currently underway. This project will examine the early implementation of Core Funding and make recommendations for future evaluations of the grant. Findings from the project are expected in Quarter 4 2025.

The parameters of this review were limited to the first year of Core Funding and as such, I do not anticipate this review providing a comprehensive set of recommendations for immediate implementation. Rather, this review will highlight remedial actions that can be incorporated without disruption to the ongoing operation of Core Funding. Importantly, this review will provide a robust mechanism that will allow the Department, on an ongoing basis, to conduct more robust assessments of the efficacy and efficiency of Core Funding.

More specifically, this review will present an analysis of the first year of Core Funding, activities, and expenditure – covering the period of 15 September 2022 to 31 August 2023. It will set out an evaluation framework for Core Funding so that subsequent medium and long-term evaluations can ensure the scheme is meeting its intended objectives and that it is an efficient use of exchequer funding. Where relevant, it will also highlight data gaps that exist, and further data that may require collection to comprehensively evaluate the scheme.

This project is being undertaken by Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service or IGEES policy analysts working in the Research and Evaluation Unit of the Department.

It is envisaged that the future evaluations will have a broader scope and will be governed by a Steering Group. The terms of reference for future evaluations will be informed by the recommendations arising from the evaluation of the first year of the grant.

In addition to this project, it is worth noting that since the Core Funding was first introduced in 2022, its effectiveness has been subject to ongoing review and the Scheme itself has evolved year on year in response.

The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding.

Core funding increased by 11% to reach €287 million for the second year, and by a further 15% to €331 million for the third year of the scheme. The allocation of this additional funding in year 2 and 3 of was informed by the data from previous years, feedback from stakeholders as well as an independent financial review of sessional services by Frontier Economics.

Targeted supports for small and sessional services introduced in year 2, were enhanced in year 3.

Moreover, changes to fee management were introduced in year 3, enabling low fee services to apply for a fee increase.

The full year allocation for year 4 of Core Funding is over €390 million. This includes funding specifically ringfenced to support employers to meet the costs of increases to the minimum rates of pay in the sector that came into effect on 13 October.

Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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98. To ask the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to provide an update on the action plan on childcare, early years; the stage that it is at; when it will be published; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61491/25]

Norma Foley (Kerry, Fianna Fail)
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The Programme for Government outlines the commitment to "undertake a broad consultation and publish a detailed Action Plan to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system".

Officials in the Department are continuing to develop this Action Plan which will look at affordability, access and quality of the early learning and care and school-age childcare system. These three attributes – affordability, accessibility and quality – are closely connected and the ways in which they interact are complex. It will be essential that we make progress in all three areas in parallel in order to deliver on our vision. Officials are working on an integrated approach to minimise the risk of unintended consequences and to identify opportunities to address multiple policy challenges at the same time.

While work on developing the Action Plan is ongoing, we are already taking initial steps to deliver on key commitments in the Programme for Government. Budget 2026 enables Core Funding to continue to support fee-control measures and will also allow for growth in the sector. The allocation for Core Funding in 2026 will ensure fees remain at 2021 levels for a majority of providers. As well as this, there will be a new maximum fee cap set to reduce costs for families paying the highest fees across the country. Further details of the new, lower maximum fee caps will be announced in the coming months.

The 2026 allocation for Core Funding will also support implementation of the recently announced Employment Regulation Orders, which led to a 10% increase - on average - in the minimum rate of pay for early years educators, school-age childcare practitioners and for other roles in the sector from 13 October.

There will also be enhancements in Year 5 of Core Funding - from September 2026 - to further improve pay for educators and school age childcare practitioners with implementation of new Employment Regulation Orders.

Further steps will be detailed in the Action Plan on Accessible, High Quality, Affordable Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, which the Department is continuing to develop. The Action Plan will be informed by a broad consultation process and will set out plans to achieve Programme for Government commitments, including the commitment to reduce maximum monthly fees to €200 over the lifetime of the Government.

I will provide further detail on the Action Plan and the consultation process at the earliest opportunity.