83. Deputy Tom Brabazon asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of providers who have exited Core Funding in 2026; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46788/26]

When first introduced in 2022, Core Funding brought a significant increase in investment for the sector with an annual allocation of €259 million. That annual allocation has increased each year since and will exceed €390 million for year 4 of the Scheme, starting from September. This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding in three years.

I was delighted to announce further investment in Core Funding in Budget 2026. The additional funding being made available will see the allocation for Core Funding in the next programme year from September 2026 increase to over €480 million. That is an additional €89.3 million on the current full year allocation, or a 23% increase.

In relation to services exiting Core Funding in 2026, information provided by Pobal, the scheme administrator, indicates that a total of 8 services have formally withdrawn from the Core Funding Scheme, a total of 3 services have since re-joined the scheme since their initial withdrawal. A further analysis of withdrawals from the Core Funding Scheme is currently underway and will capture all withdrawals for year 4 (2025/2026) of the scheme.

While the Department cannot mandate providers to participate in the Scheme, every effort has been made to carefully design Core Funding to meet the policy objectives including to achieve high levels of participation by providers, as reflected in the 50% growth of State investment in the Scheme in three years.

The Department has also made changes to improve the sustainability of providers through, for examples, targeted measures for small and sessional services, a fee increase assessment and approval process for services with fees frozen at unsustainably low rates. There are also wider financial supports from the Department for services experiencing financial difficulty.

In relation to withdrawals specifically, services may choose to leave the scheme mid-year for a multitude of reasons including being denied a fee increase, temporary closures, financial difficulties, administrative requirements and personal reasons such as retirement. Many services have left and later re-joined the scheme.

Uptake of Core Funding remains strong. As of 15 June, 4,647 have signed up to the fourth year of Core Funding which represents 93% of all eligible services. This is the highest number of Partner Services in Core Funding at any point since the scheme was launched in 2022 and the number continues to grow.