I propose to take Questions Nos. 276 and 277 together.
Core 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.
As Core Funding is an optional scheme, providers have the autonomy to withdraw from or choose not to participate in the scheme.
While the State cannot mandate providers to participate in the scheme, Core Funding has been designed with maximum participation of providers in mind as reflected in the year-on-year growth of investment in the Scheme (rising from €259 million in 2022 to over €390 million in 2025). 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 will see the allocation for Core Funding in the next programme year from September 2026 increase to over €480 million. This represents an increase of over €90 million, or 23%, on the current full year allocation.
This increased investment will allow for further increases in capacity across the sector, with €21.4 million specifically set aside to support Partner Services in adhering to Core Funding fee management conditions, including reductions in the maximum fee caps, from September 2026.
The increased allocation also includes up to €45 million to facilitate improved pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners through enhancement of the Employment Regulation Orders in Year 5 of the scheme.
In addition to this increased allocation, participation in Core Funding unlocks additional support 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 a concentrated number of children facing disadvantage through Equal Start; and
• Opportunities to apply for capital grants through the Department
Participation in Core Funding is optional, but it remains open to all registered providers subject to their agreement to the terms and conditions of the Core Funding Agreement.
It is a matter for providers to decide whether they wish to sign up to Core Funding and avail of the significant financial supports it offers to providers and the certainty it gives to parents through the associated fee management measures.
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 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.
Regardless of whether the early learning and childcare service which their child attends is participating in Core Funding, both the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme and the National Childcare Scheme (NCS) are currently available to parents.
The Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan was published on 17th December 2025. The report sets out the next steps in the delivery of a number of Programme for Government commitments relating to early learning and childcare. A central objective of Shaping the Future is to reduce parental fees to an upper limit of €200 per month over the lifetime of the Government.
The Phase 1 report o states that a roadmap will be set out in Phase 2 to ensure that all publicly funded providers are supported to take part in Core Funding. As noted in the Phase 1 report, this will include measures to reduce the administrative burden for providers of participating in publicly funded schemes.
Phase 2 of Shaping the Future will be published at end 2026.
