Aisling Dempsey
Question:258. Deputy Aisling Dempsey asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality if new providers entered core funding in 2025; and details of same. [4776/26]
View answerWednesday, 21 January 2026
Questions (258)
Written answers
While the Department cannot mandate providers to participate in Core Funding, every effort has been made to carefully design the scheme to meet the policy objectives including to achieve high levels of participation by providers.
In the current programme year (September 2025 – August 2026) the scheme has continued to support increases to capacity and accessibility for parents whilst also ensuring improved quality and sustainability for Partner Services.
Between 01/01/2025 and 31/12/2025 the number of childcare providers in receipt of Core Funding increased as per the below:
|
|
Eligible Services |
Contracted to Core Funding |
|
01/01/2025 |
4745 |
4378 |
|
31/12/2025 |
4937 |
4586 |
|
Increase |
192 |
208 |
|
% Increase |
4% |
5% |
It should be noted that both the cohort of eligible services, and those services in receipt of Core Funding, have increased year-on-year:
The table below compares the number and percentage of services in Core Funding at comparable times across each programme year.
|
Date |
Number of services signed up to Core Funding |
Number of services eligible for Core Funding |
Uptake (percentage) |
|
19/01/2023 |
4191 |
4463 |
93.91% |
|
22/01/2024 |
4339 |
4606 |
94.20% |
|
20/01/2025 |
4385 |
4752 |
92.28% |
|
19/01/2026 |
4595 |
4952 |
92.79% |
As of 20 January 2026, 4,595 services, out of a total of 4,952 eligible services, are signed up to the fourth year of Core Funding (September 2025 – August 2026). This represents 93% of all eligible services. This is the highest number of services signed up to Core Funding since it was launched in 2022.
As per my response to the Deputy’s related PQ (4777/26), these numbers would include those services who have left Core Funding and then returned, in addition to those who are entirely new to the sector/scheme. Core Funding is a supply-side payment to early learning and childcare services to support them with their operating costs, and is designed to support affordability, quality and sustainability in the sector.
The Scheme has seen consistent increased State investment to the sector year-on-year, with a full-year allocation of over €480 million secured through Budget 2026. This represents an increase of over €87 million on the current full-year allocation. This will support a range of important priorities, including:
• Quality through support with the costs of the new Employment Regulation Orders (ERO) that commenced on 13 October through which approximately 67% of staff working in the sector will see an increase in pay.
• Affordability for families through funding to cover the cost of increasing non-staff overheads in order to maintain the fees at 2021 levels.
• Accessibility for families through funding for natural growth in the sector at 4.2%.
• Brand new funding to support services to maintain fee management conditions and new maximum fee caps supporting affordability for parents, particularly those faced with the highest fees across the country.
Core Funding remains open to all Tulsa registered providers, subject to their agreement to the terms and conditions of the Core Funding Agreement.