Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 December 2025
22. Deputy Edward Timmins asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the plans to review the funding models for childcare including anomalies in core funding; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [73196/25]
View answerShaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan, Phase 1 Report, published on 17 December, sets out the Government’s approach to build an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) system. The approaches and actions set out in Shaping the Future relate to the full breadth of funding schemes for ELC and SAC.
Shaping the Future builds on the Expert Group review of the funding model that was set out in 2021 in the report, Partnership for the Public Good.
The Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future sets out specific actions to be undertaken in 2026, working within the budgetary resources available. During 2026, work will be undertaken to inform the development of Phase 2 actions, which will be published later in 2026 and which will relate to the period 2027 to 2029. The process of developing Phase 2 actions will include a broad public consultation process, in line with the Programme for Government commitment.
In addition, reviews of specific funding schemes are either in train or have been undertaken recently. A comprehensive review of the ECCE programme was published in October of last year. An evaluation of the Access and Inclusion Model was also published last year. Both final reports identified possible enhancements for the future, which informed the current Programme for Government commitments. The Programme for Government also commits to review and increase Core Funding.
An independent evaluation of the National Childcare Scheme will commence in early 2026 building on a previous review published in 2021. This evaluation will examine how effectively the Scheme is operating, whether it is meeting its policy objectives and if further changes are needed. Any changes to the ECCE Programme and/or the NCS will be made following consultation with those impacted, and in the wider context of Phase 2 actions in Shaping the Future to be published later in 2026, which will include a roadmap to reduce parental fees to a maximum of €200 per month over the lifetime of the Government.
An IGEES 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 1 2026.
In addition to this formal evaluation, since Core Funding was introduced, its effectiveness has been subject to ongoing review and the scheme itself has evolved year on year.
Core Funding has increased from €259m for year 1 and now stands at €392m for the current and fourth programme year. The allocation of this increased funding each year was informed by the data from previous years, feedback from stakeholders as well as an independent financial review of sessional services by Frontier Economics. The allocation for year 5 - which will exceed €480m - will be informed by a range of data, including validated financial returns from providers.
