Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 July 2023
179. Deputy Michael Healy-Rae asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if childcare facilities will receive an injection of funding which is required if they are to survive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [33112/23]
View answerIn 2023, the Government has for the first time allocated more than €1 billion to early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector.
Over the past eight budgets, investment in Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC) has risen from €260 million in 2015 to € 1.025 billion in 2023, reaching the First 5 investment target 5 years ahead of time.
Together for Better is the new funding model for Early Learning and Childcare, launched by the Minster in September 2022. The new Funding Model supports delivery of early learning and childcare for the public good, for quality and affordability for children, parents/guardians and families.
Together for Better brings together three major elements, the Early Childhood Care and Education programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme and Core Funding.
Core Funding, is a key pillar of funding to early learning and childcare services that forms part of the new funding model as recommended by an Expert Group 2021 in their report, Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, and approved by Government.
Core Funding introduced a new way of funding the sector through supply-side funding to contribute to a services costs of delivery, with the primary purpose to improve pay and conditions in the sector as a whole and improve affordability for parents as well as ensuring a stable income to providers. 95% of services have signed up for Core Funding as Partner Services and have significant freedom on how best to spend this grant to improve the quality of their service, once they are committed to delivering their service for the public good in line with public management requirements.
The original Core Funding allocation of €207 million secured in Budget 2022 increased to €221 million in spring 2022 at a time when cost pressures were significantly increasing. This further increased to €259 million based on significant capacity growth in sector in Budget 2023. For the second year of operation, Core Funding has increased by €28 million, an 11% increase, to a total of €287million.
Approximately €4 million of this new funding will be used to remove the experience requirement on both Graduate Premiums under Core Funding, underpinned by new EROs. This move was widely welcomed in the sector.
The remaining €24 million will be used for further developments and enhancements to the scheme, including increases for non-staff overheads and new targeted measures to support small and sessional services. The new budget of €287 million facilitates the continuation of the fee freeze into the second year of the scheme, ensuring that any potential increases in non-staff costs are not passed on to parents whilst supporting services sustainability.
In addition, my Department was allocated €69 million in capital funding under the National Development Plan to meet current and long-term early learning and childcare infrastructure needs. Under the Building Blocks Improvement Grant, €9 million was allocated in 2023, offering grants across two separate strands: Green Energy and Retrofit. Work is currently underway on the design and delivery of the Building Blocks – Capacity Grant which will address capacity gaps, fund an expansion in existing services and invest in the development of new services where most needed. This scheme will be operated in 2024 and 2025. As it stands, there is no further capital funding available to my Department for the early learning and childcare sector in 2023.
Services that are experiencing difficulty and who would like support are encouraged to contact their City/County Childcare Committee (CCC) to access case management supports. Services can be assisted on an individual basis through this route. Sustainability funding is available to Partner Services, community and private, who are experiencing financial difficulty.
