Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 June 2026
18. Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality of the providers who exited core funding in each of the years 2023, 2024, 2025 and to date in 2026, the number that have since re-entered the programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46782/26]
View answerIn November 2025, officials in my Department undertook a comprehensive analysis of withdrawals from the Core Funding Scheme. This analysis reviewed and examined services that had withdrawn from the scheme for a period of more than four weeks.
The analysis found that of the 592 services that have withdrawn from the scheme at one point, some 415 services rejoined Core Funding as of 3 November 2025 – meaning over 70% of services who left the scheme at one point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. There may also be a small number of services that withdrew from the scheme and later closed.
In Year 4 (2025/2026) a total of 8 services have formally withdrawn from the Core Funding Scheme, of these, 3 services have since rejoined the scheme since their initial withdrawal.
As of 15 June, 4,647 have signed up to the fourth year of Core Funding which represents 93% of all eligible services. This is the highest number of Partner Services in Core Funding at any point since the scheme was launched in 2022.
A further analysis of withdrawals from the Core Funding Scheme is currently underway and will capture all withdrawals for year 4 (2025/2026) of the scheme.
I would like to note that the figures associated with Year 1, 2 and 3 are based on analysis to November 2025. 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. Figures associated with the current year of Core Funding (2025/2026) to date are accurate to 16 June.
In Year 1 (2022/2023), 162 services withdrew from the scheme and later rejoined, either during the same year or in subsequent years. 13 services withdrew Year 1 and have not yet rejoined the scheme.
In Year 2 (2023/2024), 202 withdrew from the scheme and later rejoined, either during the same year or in subsequent years, a total of 94 services withdrew Year 2 and have not yet rejoined the scheme.
In Year 3 (2024/2025), 106 services withdrew from the scheme and later rejoined, either during the same year or in subsequent years, a total of 68 services withdrew Year 3 and have not yet rejoined the scheme.
In the current year of the scheme information provided by Pobal, the scheme administrator, indicates that a total of 8 services have formally withdrawn from the Core Funding Scheme, of these, 3 services have since re-joined the scheme since their initial withdrawal.
