Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 19 May 2026
867. Deputy Grace Boland asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures in place to ensure the financial sustainability of not for profit, community based childcare services in areas of disadvantage, particularly in Fingal where such services make up a disproportionately small share of overall provision; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37003/26]
View answerCore Funding is a supply-side grant to early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs. It is designed to promote affordability for parents and sustainability for providers through increased funding to the sector, paid on a consistent and equitable basis.
The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector. €259 million of funding was made available for services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding to the sector.
That annual allocation has increased each year since and has exceeded €390 million for year 4 of the Scheme. This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding in three years.
Further investment in Core Funding was announced in Budget 2026. The additional funding being made available in 2026 will see the allocation for Core Funding in the next programme year which begins in September 2026 increase to over €480 million. That is an additional €90 million on the current full year allocation, or a 23% increase. The increased funding includes over €20 million in brand new funding to support providers in adhering to Core Funding fee management conditions, including reductions in the maximum fee caps in the 2026/2027 programme year. This will ensure that Core Funding’s monetary protections will continue to be passed on to families while ensuring sustainability and stability for the sector.
The majority of Core Funding is distributed to services via the Base Rate, which is based on a service’s staffed capacity – the opening hours, operating weeks, the age group for whom services are provided, and the number of places available. Core Funding allocations are based on staffed places, not on child registrations and attendance levels. This provides services a guaranteed minimum income, supporting stability where attendance may be fluctuating.
In addition to this increased allocation, being in Core Funding unlocks additional supports for services to access, including:
* access to wider financial supports where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability;
* access to enhanced support for services caring for concentrated numbers of children facing disadvantage through Equal Start; and
* opportunities to apply for capital grants through the Department.
The Department has also made changes to improve the sustainability of providers through, for example, targeted measures for small and sessional services, and mechanisms whereby services charging low fees can apply for controlled fee increases.
The 2024/2025 Fee Increase Assessment process served to uplift services that were identified as having particularly low fees, where approval to increase was based on a unit-cost analysis conducted by the Department using service application data. A new process targeting services with low fees is currently in development, with details to be announced once finalised.
Core Funding operates alongside the National Childcare Scheme, the Early Childhood Care and Education programme and Equal Start and constitutes additional income for providers on top of funding for these schemes, as well as income from parental fees.
Since 2017, the Department has also offered Sustainability Funding to community early learning and childcare services in crisis. In 2018, a Sustainability Funding policy was formalised, and a framework was created which coupled this Sustainability Funding with on-the-ground case management assistance. The purpose of the supports within this framework are to provide emergency funding to community non-profit services where a need for funding was identified while also ensuring that the case management performed at a service level identified and resolved underlying issues that may have caused the initial crisis.
Through Case Management supports, the Department will assist providers with interpreting aspects of their business model including analysis of staff ratios and cash flow, as well as more specialised advice and support appropriate to individual circumstances. Sustainability funding enhances Core Funding by providing supports to services who are in most in need of financial assistance.
The sustainability fund is accessed through a collaborative process involving the service, their local City/County Childcare Committee (CCC), and Pobal, who assess financial eligibility and need.
I would encourage any service experiencing financial difficulty and who would like support to contact their CCC to access case management supports.
Contact details for their local CCC can be found at www.myccc.ie.
Further, Equal Start is a funding model and set of associated universal and targeted measures to support access and meaningful participation in early learning and childcare for children and their families who experience disadvantage.
Equal Start was launched in May 2024 delivering on a key commitment in the First 5 strategy (2019-2028), and initial roll-out commenced in September 2024. The development of Equal Start reflects the importance of ensuring that children from all backgrounds, and most particularly children experiencing disadvantage, can access and participate in early learning and childcare services.
Equal Start provides a continuum of child level, setting level and universal supports to support equitable access and meaningful participation across early learning and care settings, with a focus on children at risk of disadvantage, including Traveller children, Roma children, children availing of sponsor referrals by Government agencies, children experiencing homelessness, children in the International Protection system and children living in deprived areas.
806 settings (serving 38,000 children) identified as operating in a context of concentrated disadvantage have been given ‘priority designation’ and are now receiving additional supports. Since September 2024, these settings have been receiving funding for additional staff hours that can be used to facilitate more one-to-one time with individual children or reduce room ratios, as well as support engagement between the settings and families and other child and family support services. There are 428 community-based settings in receipt of Staffing Supports funding (237 Tier 1 and 191 Tier 2).
Shaping the Future: The Early Years Action Plan follows through on the Programme for Government 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 with State-led facilities adding capacity. This plan will enhance parental choice through ongoing support for public, private and community provision, as well as childminders.” The Shaping the Future Phase 1 report notes that analysis and consultation for Phase 2 will be published by the end of this year and will include consideration of the appropriate balance between private, community, State-led and childminding provision. Phase 2 actions will include a roadmap to: Build on the enhanced public management provided by Core Funding to ensure both sustainability of providers and value for money for the Exchequer, providing a fair deal both for providers and for the State.
Shaping the Future also commits to continue to strengthen the Equal Start programme, ensuring children experiencing disadvantage can access and participate fully in early learning and childcare, and supporting the objective of contributing to a reduction in child poverty.
