Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 25 July 2023
1054. Deputy Catherine Connolly asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the status of the independent financial review of sessional childcare services; the expected timeline for the completion and publication of the review; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36678/23]
View answerGiven the concerns raised by some small, sessional services, and in order to provide additional timely and robust data in preparation for developments to Core Funding in year 2, my Department appointed Frontier Economics to undertake an independent financial review of sessional services at the beginning of this year.
This review involved sessional services volunteering to participate in the research project that aimed to gather evidence on financial viability to underpin policy development and possible targeted measures through the new funding model. The review began in Q1 2023 and while the final report is outstanding, initial information received by my Department is inconclusive and sector-wide findings are not possible given the small number of services who engaged with the review.
Nonetheless, I have announced targeted measures for Core Funding year 2, to support and fund smaller and sessional services. These include a flat rate allocation of €4,075 for all sessional-only services, which will benefit approximately 1,700 services participating in Core Funding delivering ECCE, and a minimum base rate allocation of €8,150, which will benefit small, part time and school-age services.
It is anticipated that the final report will be provided to my Department in the coming weeks and will be published in Q3 of 2023.
