Every year Pobal compiles data on behalf of my Department from Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) providers as part of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile Survey (AEYSP).
In December 2023, my Department launched the Early Learning and Childcare Data website. The website provides a new and innovative way of displaying administrative data as well as survey data collected annually from over 4,400 early learning and childcare services across the country, supporting evidence-informed policy development and planning.
This new website will replace the traditional paper-based AEYSP report. It will include interactive dashboards released by Pobal on behalf of my Department. To date, the website includes dashboards providing an overview of service providers and capacity. Dashboards for fees are expected to be released in the coming weeks.
The most recently published fee data for the 2020/21 programme year indicates that the average* weekly fee per child before subsidies was €186.84 for full day, €110.92 for part-time, and €74.20 for sessional service provision. The average weekly fee by county and type of care provision shows that Dun Laoghaire Rathdown had the average highest fees, nationally, while Monaghan and Carlow had the lowest.
It is worth noting that averages can mask significant variations within counties. For example, the highest weekly full day fee charged by an individual service was in Dún Laoghaire Rathdown (€324.35). However, the lowest full day weekly fee charged in the same local authority was €134. The highest weekly part-time fee in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown was €239.50 and the lowest was €78.50.
Table 1. Average weekly fee by county and type of care provision (full-day, part-time, sessional)
|
County
|
Full-day
|
Part-time
|
Sessional
|
|
Dublin – Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown
|
€244.08
|
€139.10
|
€84.71
|
|
Dublin – Fingal
|
€214.30
|
€121.96
|
€76.81
|
|
Dublin – South Dublin
|
€214.08
|
€127.90
|
€78.69
|
|
Dublin – Dublin City
|
€213.85
|
€127.16
|
€78.60
|
|
Wicklow
|
€213.36
|
€126.92
|
€77.65
|
|
Cork City
|
€204.36
|
€113.73
|
€76.58
|
|
Cork County
|
€193.53
|
€118.22
|
€77.15
|
|
Kildare
|
€191.68
|
€120.02
|
€77.78
|
|
Meath
|
€191.52
|
€112.35
|
€73.87
|
|
Westmeath
|
€181.83
|
€107.48
|
€79.32
|
|
Kerry
|
€181.01
|
€103.43
|
€67.01
|
|
Kilkenny
|
€179.66
|
€103.86
|
€71.81
|
|
Louth
|
€178.37
|
€117.06
|
€73.30
|
|
Wexford
|
€177.69
|
€103.99
|
€73.85
|
|
Waterford
|
€175.61
|
€101.27
|
€71.30
|
|
Limerick
|
€175.48
|
€103.54
|
€72.53
|
|
Laois
|
€174.89
|
€100.88
|
€73.63
|
|
Donegal
|
€174.24
|
€95.35
|
€68.25
|
|
Galway
|
€173.56
|
€105.61
|
€70.97
|
|
Offaly
|
€173.33
|
€112.98
|
€71.81
|
|
Clare
|
€172.00
|
€102.13
|
€72.20
|
|
Tipperary
|
€166.71
|
€99.25
|
€71.68
|
|
Sligo
|
€165.64
|
€97.02
|
€78.20
|
|
Leitrim
|
€163.81
|
€89.58
|
€69.85
|
|
Roscommon
|
€161.94
|
€99.36
|
€72.13
|
|
Cavan
|
€160.88
|
€95.39
|
€69.21
|
|
Mayo
|
€160.68
|
€95.02
|
€69.28
|
|
Longford
|
€159.17
|
€93.93
|
€71.65
|
|
Monaghan
|
€153.42
|
€87.76
|
€65.52
|
|
Carlow
|
€152.08
|
€88.36
|
€71.27
|
|
Overall average
|
€186.84
|
€110.92
|
€74.20
|
*Average is calculated as the median value for all services
Fee management was introduced with the substantial investment of Core Funding in September 2022. This follows the recommendations of the Expert Group, approved by Government, to first limit increases in fee rates. This effectively freezes services’ fees at those they charged to parents in September 2021 to ensure that the introduction of Fee Management to the sector was done in a sustainable and considered manner. Increasing the Core Funding budget while maintaining the same level of conditions on fees, will help embed the Core Funding Fee Management system in the sector and prepare the sector for the ongoing development of fee management in future years.
