Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 October 2025
506. Deputy Ken O'Flynn asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the steps her Department is taking to prevent excessive childcare fee increases, including whether consideration has been given to introducing statutory fee caps or a link between the core funding scheme and maximum allowable fee levels. [52982/25]
Amharc ar fhreagraPromoting affordability in early learning and care and school-age childcare is a key priority of the Department. In January, the Programme for Government committed to reducing the cost of childcare to €200 per month within the lifetime of the Government. A number of existing Schemes will play a role in realising this goal, including Core Funding.
Core Funding, which is now in its fourth year, was introduced in September 2022, and is designed to improve the affordability, quality and sustainability of childcare in Ireland.
The Core Funding fee management system was introduced with the launch of the scheme, on foot of the recommendations of the Expert Group’s Partnership for the Public Good report, which was accepted by all of Government in December 2021.
The first step of this process was to limit increases in fee rates, with all services contracting to the Scheme required to freeze their fees at September 2021 levels. As part of the progressive development of the Core Funding fee management system, the Department introduced new fee management measures in year 3, including a cap on the highest fees for services joining the Scheme for the first time.
With these changes in year 3, it was also made clear in public communications and the Core Funding contract that maximum fee caps would apply to all Partner Services from the beginning of year 4 in September 2025.
In June, I published the details of these maximum fee caps for year 4. These new maximum fee caps will apply to all Partner Services and place a limit on the fees that can be charged across all types of provision. This will reduce costs for families who are facing the highest fees across the country. The fee freeze will remain in place for the majority of Partner Services with fees that fall below these caps.
Under these new fee caps, the maximum fee for a full day place – of between 40-50 hours per week, the most common full day care operating hours – can be no more than €295 per week (before State subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme and the ECCE programme are deducted), and the maximum fee for 50+ hours of care can be no more than €354.
|
Fee Band |
Hours per week purchased under fee option |
Maximum allowable fee for Partner Services |
|
A |
Less than 10 hours |
€59 |
|
B |
Between 10 hours and 19 hours 59 minutes |
€118 |
|
C |
Between 20 hours and 29 hours 59 minutes |
€177 |
|
D |
Between 30 hours and 39 hours 59 minutes |
€236 |
|
E |
Between 40 hours and 49 hours 59 minutes |
€295 |
|
F |
50 hours or more |
€354 |
The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector, with €259 million of funding paid directly to services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding. This allocation has since risen to over €390 million in year 4, which is inclusive of €45 million in State funding to support services to meet costs of increased minimum rates of pay in the sector. The allocation of this funding to the sector is conditional on new Employment Regulation Orders being in place.
Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail Alan Dillon has confirmed he intends to sign a new Employment Order for Early Years Educators and School-Age Practitioners. The Order will revoke the 2024 Order currently in operation for the sector and will commence on 13th October 2025.
Adherence to the Core Funding fee management system is a primary condition of receiving the significant State funding that is available through the scheme. The fee management system requires compliance with a fee freeze and the maximum fee caps.
Core Funding has enjoyed high engagement from the sector to date, with 91.1% of eligible services having signed up to programme year 2025/2026 as of 6th October. The progressive development of the Core Funding fee management system will continue in future programme years as the Department works toward meeting the Government’s goal of reducing childcare costs down to €200 per month.
