Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 April 2025
677. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the action that has been undertaken in furtherance of the stated commitment in the Programme for Government to 'grow State involvement and investment in the sector'; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15783/25]
View answerThe pathway to developing the early learning and childcare sector was set out in Partnership for the Public Good, the report of the Expert Group that was agreed by Government in 2021.
The key theme of that report was the need to strengthen State involvement in the sector through greater levels of public management accompanied by greater levels of public funding.
Since that report was published, State investment has increased by 114% to €1.37 billion in 2025, with the majority of that funding allocated through Together for Better, the new funding model for early learning and childcare.
This funding model which brings together the ECCE programme, the Access and Inclusion Model, the National Childcare Scheme, Equal Start and Core Funding, supports the delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good, for quality and affordability for children, parents and families as well as stability and sustainability for providers.
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 €287 million) in year 2 and by a further 15% in year 3 (to €331 million) to facilitate a range of enhancements to the scheme. In line with Budget 2025, Core Funding will be worth approximately €390 million in year 4 of the scheme, contingent on updated Employment Regulation Orders.
Core Funding has a high uptake rate among providers. Currently 93% or more than 4,400, providers having signed up for Core Funding in year 3.
The scheme is designed to meet the combined objectives of:
• Improved affordability for parents through the introduction of fee management and
• contractual requirements on providers to offer the National Childcare Scheme and/or the ECCE programme
• Improved quality through better pay and conditions for the workforce by supporting agreement on an Employment Regulation Order through the Joint Labour Committee;
• Supporting the employment of graduate staff; and
• Improved sustainability and stability for services.
Since the Core Funding was introduced, the effectiveness of the scheme in meeting these objectives has been subject to ongoing review and the scheme itself has evolved year on year.
In addition, a Supply Management Unit was established last year in my Department. The Programme for Government articulates an intention that the Unit be resourced and transformed into a Forward Planning and Delivery Unit to identify areas of need, forecast demand, and deliver public supply within the childcare sector where required.
This Unit is developing a forward planning model to assist in identifying where unmet need/demand and areas of low supply exist. The model will seek to identify the nature and volume of different types of early learning and childcare places across the country and how that aligns with the numbers of children in the corresponding age cohorts at local area level. This model will be central to my Department's plans to achieve the policy goals set out in the Programme for Government to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early childhood education and care system, with State-led facilities adding capacity.
This Unit is also responsible for public capital investment in the sector. The Building Blocks Extension Grant Scheme was launched on the 4th of November 2024. Applications for this scheme have now closed and an appraisal process has begun. The primary focus of the Extension Grant Scheme is to increase capacity in the 1–3-year-old, pre–ECCE, age range for full day care. Appraisal of applications for this scheme will consider the supply and demand in the area around the proposed projects and seeks to prioritise funding for areas with the biggest supply/demand mismatch. €25m will be made available this year to deliver additional capacity under the Scheme and I expect to announce the outcome of the application process in the coming weeks.
The Programme for Government also commits for the first time to provide capital investment to build or purchase state-owned early learning and childcare facilities, to create additional capacity in areas where unmet need exists. State ownership of early learning and childcare facilities is a very substantial and significant shift in the policy direction that the Department has pursued heretofore (i.e. privately delivered provision with increased levels of public funding and public management) and offers the potential for much greater scope to influence the nature and volume of provision available and to ensure better alignment with estimated demand.
