Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2023
62. Deputy Alan Dillon asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the steps he has taken to control increase in childcare costs in the summer months when the early childhood care and education programme is not running; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32517/23]
View answerWhile I welcome recent benefits in the area of childcare costs in Ireland, costs are still a huge barrier for families and those returning to work. What does the Minister intend to do to decrease the costs of childcare in budget 2024?
The early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme is a universal two-year preschool programme. Children within the eligible age range can access this programme for three hours per day, five days per week. The delivery of the ECCE programme aligns with the school year and operates over 38 weeks per year from September to June. All hours of early learning and childcare accessed outside of the ECCE programme hours, either within term or out of term, can be subsidised by the national childcare scheme, NCS, for a maximum of 45 hours per week. Right now, record numbers of families are being supported by the NCS to offset the cost of early learning and childcare. As of 5 June, a total of 122,256 children are benefiting from an NCS subsidy. That is a 90% increase in the number of kids benefiting from the NCS in one year. Moreover, following the budget announcement last year, from 2 January the minimum level of support under the NCS is now €1.40 per hour, which is up 90 cent from the 50 cent it was previously. This represents €3,276 off the annual cost of childcare per child where a family is availing of 45 hours of early learning and care per week. To ensure that the full effects of the ECCE programme and the NCS are felt by parents, the core funding scheme that has been in place since September 2022 to support providers has introduced fee management for the first time. One of the conditions of getting core funding is that services agree not to increase their fees from September 2021 levels. Some 95% of services across the country have signed up to this scheme and its conditions. As part of this year's budget and Estimates process, I will be working to cut costs further but I will also be working to achieve other aims in terms of expanding access to early learning and childcare.
I thank the Minister for his response. He must be commended on his response with regard to the NCS but also for the increased funding to the sector with the additional €173 million in 2022 via the core funding scheme. That was a huge statement of intent by this Government in terms of addressing the pay issues within the sector, which resulted in pay increases for more than 70% of early years managers and educators. I must bring to the Minister's attention that there is an ongoing concern about the lack of crèche facilities, which is becoming a real barrier for parents returning to work. Parents who are using crèches are now saving thousands of euro per year with the reductions in childcare fees but for those in rural areas, it has become a significant barrier. I would ask that we use the capital programme to develop more outreach within rural areas and prioritise this within the upcoming budget.
The measures I have sought to introduce are to make provision for providers, make provision for childcare professionals and make provision for parents. It is important that all three are provided for in the measures the Government brings forward because, ultimately, looking after all those will ensure they can better look after our children. The Deputy is absolutely right about the pressure on capacity. When we introduced core funding, we saw a significant growth in capacity. Services responded to that. They added extra rooms.
We are bringing forward capital proposals. We will be bringing forward €20 million for capital expansion next year and a further €40 million the following year. We are working with planning authorities so that where a childcare facility is a condition of planning permission, it is actually delivered. I am not sure what the situation is in Mayo but I know of a few carcass buildings around the place that should be childcare facilities but that was never delivered. The final point is childminders. Bringing childminders within the national childcare scheme will significantly increase capacity as well.
I thank the Minister for his response. I certainly welcome his response in relation to childminders. They are pivotal in rural areas, where many children are cared for in the childminder's home. Bringing them into the scheme will certainly entice a lot more people to use childminders, which will complement the crèche facilities within community settings or private settings. That is really important going forward. We should also address the ongoing issues around capitation. We have heard from the early childhood providers who are calling for additional funding to administer the core funding element. That was evident in the many engagements we have had with SIPTU and the representative bodies. That is important. We are making significant progress in this area and I have to commend the Minister on that. Hopefully the budget in September will be the next step in the Government's commitment within the programme for Government.
For the second year of core funding, which kicks in in September, I was delighted to be able to secure an additional €28 million. That is an 11% growth year on year to support providers, which is very significant. The Deputy is right. In this year's budget we have many goals we want to achieve. We want to keep core funding growing. We really want to cut fees for parents again. We recognise that despite the progress we made this year, fees are still too high so we want to grow the NCS. We want to bring childminders into the NCS because there is a group of parents who were excluded from the benefits of the scheme. That involves childminders being regulated appropriately. It would not be the same regulations that apply to a Montessori or a large chain but appropriate regulation. Another thing that I and the Minister of State, Deputy Rabbitte, are passionate about is the access and inclusion model and ensuring that children with a disability can get the full benefit of the ECCE programme and, indeed, beyond that. We want to grow the access and inclusion model so more children can get the benefits of early learning and the benefits their families get from that as well.
