Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 May 2026
950. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the position regarding the number of childcare centres that have withdrawn from the core funding scheme since it was established, broken down by year; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38885/26]
View answer951. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the position regarding the number of childcare centres that have withdrawn from the core funding scheme since it was established, broken down by county; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38886/26]
View answer1045. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare providers that have exited the core funding model, broken down by local authority area; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40130/26]
View answer1048. Deputy Barry Ward asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality in relation to any childcare provider that has left the core funding model, if the basis for their leaving is categorised; if so, if there is a commonality as to the reason many centres are leaving the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40134/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 950, 951, 1045 and 1048 together.
I am aware that a small number of childcare services have regrettably chosen to withdraw from Core Funding.
In the interest of clarity, transparency and consistent reporting, I have defined a service that left Core Funding as any service that had a gap between contracts for Core Funding of 4 or more weeks.
There are a number of reasons that a service might fall into this definition. For example, a service could have withdrawn from the scheme, been removed from the scheme for breach of rules, or experienced a delay in re-contracting following a change of circumstance application or between programme years. Many services have left and later re-joined the scheme. There may be a small number of services who left the scheme and subsequently closed at a later date and are not captured in the figures below.
As of 3 November 2025, there were 5,035 services listed as being open on the Early Years Platform, of which 177 (4%) had left Core Funding at one point over the lifetime of the scheme to this date and continue to operate outside of this scheme. A further 415 services (8%) had left Core Funding at one point over the lifetime of the scheme to this date but later rejoined and were signed up to the fourth year of the scheme on this date. The overwhelming majority of services, 4,157 or 83%, have continued to participate in Core Funding from the date on which they first signed up for the scheme.
It should be noted that of the 592 services that have left the scheme at one point, some 415 services were contracted to Core Funding as of 3 November 2025 - meaning over 70% of services who left the scheme at one point have now returned to Core Funding.
The table below provides a breakdown of engagement with Core Funding in each programme year. Some services may have left and rejoined multiple times across the three years, and therefore the figures cannot be summed across programme years from the breakdown below. It should be noted that not all of the currently operating services will have been in existence for all programme years, and not all services that had operated in previous years will be currently operating. The table below provides a breakdown of the services that have left Core Funding in each programme year by county division. Some services may have left and re-joined multiple times across the three years, and therefore the figures cannot be summed across programme years from the breakdown below.
|
|
Year 1 (2022/2023) |
Year 2 (2023/2024) |
Year 3 (2024/2025) |
Year 4 (2025/2026) |
|
Continued Participation |
3,728 |
2,863 |
4,199 |
4,570 |
|
Left and later returned |
162 |
202 |
106 |
2 |
|
Left and remained out |
13 |
94 |
68 |
1 |
|
Did not participate |
1,132 |
876 |
668 |
462 |
|
COUNTY DIVISION |
Year 1 (2022/2023) |
Year 2 (2023/2024) |
Year 3 (2024/2025) |
Year 4 (2025/2026) |
|
Cork City |
2 |
4 |
5 |
0 |
|
County Carlow |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
County Cavan |
2 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
|
County Clare |
5 |
3 |
4 |
0 |
|
County Cork |
12 |
15 |
14 |
0 |
|
County Donegal |
12 |
9 |
17 |
0 |
|
County Galway |
24 |
30 |
16 |
1 |
|
County Kerry |
5 |
9 |
5 |
0 |
|
County Kildare |
11 |
11 |
7 |
0 |
|
County Kilkenny |
0 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
County Laois |
5 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
|
County Leitrim |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
County Limerick |
6 |
11 |
2 |
0 |
|
County Longford |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
County Louth |
6 |
2 |
3 |
0 |
|
County Mayo |
7 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
|
County Meath |
4 |
13 |
16 |
0 |
|
County Monaghan |
0 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
|
County Offaly |
7 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
County Roscommon |
1 |
4 |
2 |
0 |
|
County Sligo |
0 |
5 |
5 |
0 |
|
County Tipperary |
12 |
14 |
3 |
0 |
|
County Waterford |
5 |
2 |
2 |
0 |
|
County Westmeath |
1 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
|
County Wexford |
4 |
11 |
6 |
2 |
|
County Wicklow |
2 |
12 |
3 |
0 |
|
Dublin City |
17 |
56 |
28 |
0 |
|
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown |
8 |
10 |
8 |
0 |
|
Fingal |
7 |
29 |
9 |
0 |
|
South Dublin |
9 |
17 |
8 |
0 |
It should be noted that of the services tabulated above, over 70% of services had returned to participate in Core Funding as of 3 November 2025
Uptake of Core Funding remains strong. As of 18 May 2026, there were 4,636 services signed up to the fourth year of Core Funding which represents 93% uptake by eligible services. This is the highest number of Partner Services in Core Funding at any point since the scheme was launched in 2022 and the number continues to grow.
I am encouraged by this rate of participation: it shows the vast majority of families will continue to benefit from the scheme’s fee management conditions.
I trust this information is of assistance.
