Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 May 2026
190. Deputy Emer Currie asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the total funding provided for core funding for each year between 2022 to 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [35559/26]
View answerThe introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259m of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8m was entirely new funding.
Core Funding increased by 11% to reach €287m for the second year, and by a further 15% to €331m 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.
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. The use of this increased funding was informed by data from previous years as well as stakeholder feedback.
The total allocation for Core Funding in 2026/2027 programme year will increase to over €480 million, an additional €89.3 million, or 23%, on the current full year allocation. Full details of Core Funding 2026/2027 will be made available to the sector in the coming weeks and will be informed by emerging insights from the ongoing operation and evaluation of the scheme.
