Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 7 March 2024
329. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of private creches/playschools that have pulled out of the Government funding schemes and are now charging parents vastly increased sums for childcare. [11429/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraWhile my Department cannot mandate providers to participate in schemes , every effort has been made to carefully design Core Funding to meet the policy objectives including to achieve high levels of participation by providers.
Officials from my Department engage extensively with provider representatives and providers of all types, via various specific consultation activities and through various fora, including through the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum throughout the year regarding the continuous development of the Core Funding Scheme.
95% of providers participated in year 1 of the scheme and to date, 94% or over 4,300 providers have signed up for Core Funding Year 2, with applications still open. 98% of all not for profit services and 93% of all for profit services have signed up to Core Funding programme year 2.
There are more providers in absolute terms contracted to the Scheme this year, compared to programme year 1. Applications are still open for this programme year, and numbers continuing to grow.
According to recent data provided by Pobal, in their role as scheme administrator, 16 services/providers withdrew in total from Core Funding, however, 12 of these services with activated contracts for Core Funding 2023/2024 withdrew before the start of the programme, therefore only 4 services have withdrawn during the programme year to date.
In year 1 of the Scheme, some €259 million was allocated to the scheme. The allocation for Core Funding increased by 11% to reach €287 million for year 2 of the Scheme. That allocation will increase again in September, by 15% for the third year of the scheme – to €331 million providing a platform increased investment in all services.
It is a matter for providers to decide whether they wish to withdraw from the Core Funding scheme, the significant financial supports it provides to providers and the certainty it provides to parents through the associated fee freeze. However, I am confident that given the level of investment and associated supports, services should not need to take this step.
While a provider may withdraw from Core Funding, they remain eligible in this programme year to provide the National Childcare Scheme (NCS), the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme and the Community Childcare Subvention Plus (CCSP) Saver programme.
Supports are available from my Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, accessed through local City or County Childcare Committees (CCC).
I encourage services to avail of these supports as an alternative to withdrawing from Core Funding and removing the benefits of this Scheme to parents.
