Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 25 April 2024
286. Deputy Steven Matthews asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if his attention has been drawn to planned closure of a childcare facility (details supplied); if his Department is engaging with management on possible supports that could assist the facility to remain open; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18536/24]
View answerInvestment in early learning and childcare is at unprecedented levels with public funding exceeding €1.1 billion in 2024 for early learning and childcare – a clear demonstration from Government of the value of the sector.
The overwhelming majority of this funding is allocated through Together for Better, the new funding model.
Together for Better brings together four strands, the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE programme), including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM), the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), and Core Funding, with a fourth programme, the Equal Start Model in development.
One of the key objectives of Core Funding is to support the sector as a whole with the introduction of direct supply-side funding, in addition to the ECCE programme and the NCS, to create a more stable and sustainable financial environment.
Core Funding improves:
affordability for parents by instituting a fee freeze in participating Partner Services;
• access by expanding the capacity being offered by the sector, particularly for younger children;
• quality including through improved pay, conditions and career structure underpinned by Employment Regulation Orders; and
• stability and sustainability for providers.
Core Funding makes a significant additional contribution to services’ income, allowing them to better absorb increased costs. In Year 1 of Core Funding, some €259 million was allocated under the scheme and 99% of services saw their income increase through Core Funding with 1%, or close to 60 services, receiving top up payments to ensure their income did not decrease for the same level of provision offered.
For the second year of operation, Core Funding increased by €28 million or 11% increase to €287 million, with every service benefiting from increases in funding for the second year of the scheme.
Arising from Budget 2024, the Core Funding allocation for year 3 of the scheme will increase again by 15% - to €331 million. This will support the delivery of a range of enhancements in Year 3 of the scheme to support improved affordability and accessibility for families, improved pay and conditions for the workforce and improved sustainability for providers.
I do not want any services to be faced with financial sustainability issues and I am fully committed to working with any such service to support them in delivering early learning and childcare for the public good.
Supports are available from my Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, accessed through Pobal and local CCC. Any service who would like to avail of advice or supports on a concern regarding their sustainability, is encouraged to reach out to their local CCC. Contact details for their local CCC can be found at www.myccc.ie .
Pobal have recently informed my Department that they have been liaising with the local CCC to support this particular service with their sustainability concerns. The CCC discussed sustainability supports with the service, but their decision was not to pursue these supports at this time. However, my Department remain in contact with the CCC in relation to this service.
