Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 March 2026
763. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has developed projections for average childcare costs per month over the coming years based on current policy work and planned reforms; if these projections are available, by year and type of service that is, full-time, part-time, ECCE, and so on; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17052/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra764. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether her Department has modelled the likely average annual cost of childcare that parents should expect over the next five years; the assumptions used in these projections; and if she will provide the latest figures and timelines for this modelling, in tabular form. [17053/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra765. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality whether, in the context of ongoing childcare reform work, her Department has produced estimates for the average parent which will pay for childcare per month and per year in the short to medium term; the way these estimates will compare to current average costs; and if she will publish this, in tabular form. [17054/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 763, 764 and 765 together.
The Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan was published on 17th December. The report sets out the next steps in the delivery of a number of Programme for Government commitments relating to Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC). 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 focuses on short-term actions to be undertaken in 2026 within the budgetary resources available for the year. In line with the Programme for Government commitment, a broad public consultation process is currently underway. Results of this consultation, as well as additional analysis, will inform Phase 2 of the Action Plan. Phase 2 actions will be published later in 2026 and will be undertaken from 2027 through to the end of 2029.
The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) provides subsidies – both universal and targeted - to reduce the costs to parents for children to participate in ELC and SAC. The NCS has been substantially expanded in recent years to further reduce the cost of ELC and SAC for families. This includes the extension of the universal subsidy to all children under 15 and two increases to the minimum hourly subsidy, which is now worth a minimum of €96.30 per week for 45 hours.
The objective to reduce parental fees to an upper limit of €200 per month cannot be achieved through the NCS alone. The fee-freeze and maximum fee-caps required for Core Funding have been key to the progress in recent years in making ELC and SAC services more affordable. As of 2 March, 93% of eligible providers have signed up to the fourth year of Core Funding, which equates to over 4,600 services. Core Funding is currently experiencing the highest total number of participating services since the introduction of the Scheme.
In September 2025, maximum fee caps were extended to all Partner Services in Core Funding. Under these fee caps, the fee for a full day place – of between 40-50 hours per week, the most common full day care operating hours – can be charged at no more than €295 per week. A parent being charged the maximum permissible fee of €295 per week for a full day place would be entitled to receive the universal National Childcare Scheme subsidy of €96.30, meaning their own co-payment would be no more than €198.70 per week. Higher subsidies are available for many parents, depending on their level of income and the age and number of children in their family.
Budget 2026 enables Core Funding to continue to support fee-control measures. It will ensure fees remain at 2021 levels for a majority of providers. Fee cap values were lowered for the programme year 2025/2026 and fee cap values will be lowered again, later this year, for the 2026/2027 programme year.
In relation to data on fees for parents, each year Pobal compiles data on fees from ELC and SAC providers as part of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile (AEYSP). As part of the AEYSP survey, service providers are asked to indicate the fee charged for each care type before deductions for subsidies, such as the National Childcare Scheme, are applied. As the distribution of fees is skewed, with most data points having low values and a few very high values influencing the mean, the median value is reported below as it is considered more representative of the mid-point of the data.
The most recently published fee data for the 2024/25 programme year indicates that the average (median) weekly fee per child (before subsidies) was €200.00 for full day care ELC.
The fee data are available at www.pobal.ie/childcare/fees. Data collection for the 2024/25 survey took place between 6 May and 3 June 2025. In total, 4,225 services completed the survey during the data collection window, with a response rate of 87%.
It is important to stress that both Phase 1 and Phase 2 of Shaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan are being informed by an extensive range of research, data-analysis, and public consultation processes that have been undertaken over recent years and that continue. These research and development activities are not specific solely to the Action Plan but are critical to the rigour of its analysis.
