Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 April 2025
84. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if her attention has been drawn to the fact that the national childcare website does not list fees for childcare providers for the year 2021; if her Department will rectify this as matter of urgency; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [21091/25]
View answerIs the Minister aware the national childcare website does not list fees for childcare providers for the year 2021, the key year against which fees are benchmarked for core funding? Will the Department rectify this as a matter of urgency? The Labour Party has submitted at least four parliamentary questions over the past year but the Minister and the previous Minister have failed to provide an answer.
Thanks very much, Deputy. I am aware the childcare search on the Hive website does not currently contain fees listed for services for the programme year 2021 to 2022. The portal was originally designed to contain information for the current programme year only. In addition to service fee lists, the following information is available on the portal: contact details for services; whether services are private, community or childminding services; a services calendar, which provides details of services' operating hours per week and the number of weeks operating per year; whether the service offers the early childhood care and education programme or the national childcare scheme; and whether it is taking part in the core funding scheme.
The portal was recently upgraded to provide fee lists for the previous programme year, 2023 to 2024. There is no scope to provide historical fees lists on the portal in the short term owing to competing ICT demands. However, officials at the Department are working on an interim solution in order to make the 2021-22 fees list available through the city and county childcare committees. The list of services that have been approved to increase their fees through the fee increases assessment process will also be published. I anticipated the fee lists will be available through the network of childcare committees in the coming weeks. I know that is not what the Deputy asked for, but it is the mechanism available to us in the interim.
In the meantime, parents can contact the parent support centre by phone or by completing a contact form on the website to ask about year-on-year comparison of fee lists for their individual early learning and childcare service. Parents can also contact their local city and county childcare committees. Childcare committees support parents and guardians to understand their early learning and childcare options and keep an updated directory of early learning and childcare services in their local areas. They can also provide information and support in relation to fees.
Gabhaim buíochas leis an Aire. The Minister will appreciate the Labour Party has frequently asked her and the previous Minister about this in parliamentary questions and parents have been told to go to their local childcare committees for historic fees, go to the national childcare website or contact the NCS directly for the fees. Parents have already gone down those three routes to access fees.
A response to a parliamentary question from my party leader, Ivana Bacik, on 29 September 2024 stated the Department would endeavour to have these fees publicly available as soon as possible. A timeframe on the short term and long term would be gratefully appreciated. There is no opportunity for somebody who had a child in preschool in 2021 to understand whether that childcare facility is now charging more or charging less.
There is nothing to base it on.
I acknowledge the manner in which the Deputy and his party leader have followed this through. What I can say is that the portal was recently upgraded and it now includes fee lists for the previous programme year of 2023 to 2024. There is an issue at present - there is no point in saying there is not - in terms of the capacity of the Hive website to go further back. To ameliorate that or make recompense, the officials are currently working to ensure that the 2021-22 fees list will be available. I am told it will be available in the coming weeks and that is the best commitment I can give. I am happy to revert to the Deputy and discuss this with him again in a few weeks if it is not made available to him. That is the situation as it stands.
Enormous money has gone into the whole issue of childcare. Of that, there is no doubt. Just short of €1 billion has gone into core funding and there has been significant improvement. It is important that parents have access to information on what the fees were in 2021 to 2022. As I said, that will be available through the childcare committee.
I appreciate that. It would be great if the Minister could clarify the position. We have the figures for 2021, although the website might not be working to its full capacity because it is a brand new website and, as the Minister said, it has been designed for the current 2023-24 price for childcare. Do we have the figures for the childcare facilities of 2021? Once the website is fixed, will the figures be available to put up on the website? Are we still looking for the figures or are they available to the Department? The Minister will appreciate that new parents entering the system are presented with a table of fees by the service provider without any context as to whether those fees match what was being charged in 2021.
The officials are working on the solution and the 2021-22 fees list will be made available through the county and city childcare committees. Also published will be the list of services that have been approved to increase their fees through the fee increase assessment process. It is the Department's best estimate currently that this will be available in the coming weeks. I am happy to engage with the Deputy.
I know this is important information for parents. I know there is an absolute acknowledgement that considerable work has been achieved in this space. There has been significant money in core funding, with €331 million for this year alone, which will rise to €350 million. The purpose of core funding is to ensure reduced costs for parents but also that there is support for providers. That information should be available in the coming weeks.
