Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 26 July 2022
1401. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the estimated full cost moving to a fully publicly run childcare service; the estimated length of time needed for same; the estimated cost in year one; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41478/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Programme for Government contains a number of commitments for early learning and childcare, including reforming the system to create one that brings together the best of community and private provision and the development of a new funding model for affordable, accessible, sustainable and high quality Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School-Age Childcare (SAC).
Not including special Covid-19 funding arrangements, an estimated 60% of funding for ELC and SAC services comes from the State. The First 5 strategy published in 2018 committed to at least doubling expenditure in the sector by 2028 to approximately €1 billion.
An Expert Group to develop a new funding model for ELC and SAC was established in 2019 to consider how best to structure this additional investment. It was independently chaired and comprised of national and international experts across multiple fields.
Under their terms of reference, the Expert Group was not asked to propose changes to the current model of delivery (i.e. privately-operated provision), rather that they the Group should seek to further achieve policy objectives of quality, affordability, accessibility and contributing to addressing disadvantage in a privately-operated system through increased public funding and public management.
The report of the Expert Group, 'Partnership for the Public Good: A New Funding Model for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare', was published on 7 December 2021 following consideration by Government and acceptance of its 25 recommendations. Work has now commenced on implementation of these recommendations. The report of the Expert Group is available here: first5fundingmodel.gov.ie/report/.
Of the 25 recommendations, three are grouped under the title 'Role of the State'. In particular, the final recommendation states that, "[I]n the medium term, the Minister should mandate the Department to examine whether some element of public provision should be introduced alongside private provision." Evolving over time, the new funding model entails a substantially increased role for the State in a range of areas, including fee management, capacity planning, provision of information to parents, planning the development of the sector, supporting services, and managing centre closures.
Taken together, these recommendations reflect a key theme of the report, which is the importance of strengthened State involvement and enhanced public management in the sector, in conjunction with increased State funding. This is underpinned by a cultural shift to a partnership relationship between providers and the State that reflects the public good dimension of ELC and SAC, with new responsibilities on both sides.
Announcements in Budget 2022 signalled the commitment to the first stage of implementation of the Expert Group’s recommendations. In particular, Budget 2022 allocated €73.5 million to a new Core Funding stream, equivalent to €221 million in a full year. Full implementation of all recommendations, including recommendation 25 which would likely involve an estimate of cost and timeline for delivery of a portion of public provision, will be progressed in the coming years as additional funding is secured through the annual Estimates process.
