675. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 485 and 486 of 28 May 2026, if room closures, rather than the service overall closure has any impact on core funding payable; if in the case of a multi-room service where different rooms close at different times, almost on rotation, whether this breached core funding rules, given the service remains open but rooms are closed continually; if this impacts core funding payable; if not, if she will review this in terms of core funding given the impact it has on parents and children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51634/26]

To become a Partner Service and receive Core Funding grant allocations, an approved provider must first enter into a Core Funding Partner Service Funding Agreement with the Department, and in doing so agree to all the terms and conditions of the grant.

To generate Core Funding allocations, Partner Services are required to submit an application and service profile, which detail their operations and the services they provide. The Department understands that Early Learning and Childcare services have to be dynamic and flexible in their day-to-day staffing arrangements. Therefore, Partner Services describe a “typical week” in their application to reduce the administrative burden of maintaining an application. The Department’s definition of a Typical Week is a period representing an average operating week, where the more typical staff rostering is evident. Within the context of Core Funding, the Department defines a material or significant change as one which affects the Typical Week for a period greater than 4 weeks. This is under the assumption that the Staffed Capacity of the typical week as declared on the Core Funding Application is maintained.

The Funding Agreement also defines “Operating Hours per Week” as the time the service is open and available to children; it does not include hours where the service is open but not available to children. It also defines “Operating Weeks per Year” as the number of weeks the service is open and available to children; it does not include weeks where the service is open but not available to children. For the purpose of Core Funding a service must be open for at least 3 days for that week to be considered an operating week.

It should be noted that inputting data on the basis of the Typical Week clause does not exempt a Partner Service from having to comply with other terms and conditions of the grant, including the need to ensure that staffed capacity is genuinely available to parents for all operating hours per week and operating weeks per year.

The closure of rooms within a Partner Service ensures that these rooms are not available to parents and should therefore be reflected in a change to an Application Module or Service Profile. Where a room is not open for at least 3 days for that week, this should be reflected in a change to a Partner Service’s Service Profile and Application Module, by decreasing the Operating weeks of Term Time Only service and/or decreasing the Operating weeks of Out Of Term Only service, associated with the relevant room.

Partner Services must update their application when such a material change has occurred and must change their operating weeks per year in their application if service is not open and available to children for at least 3 days of a week.

In addition, through the Funding Agreement the Partner Service agrees that if the amount of service offered is decreased, the Fee Charged must also decrease by at least the same proportion. Any such decrease in service offering and Fees must occur at the same time.

Where such changes in a Partner Service’s offering is not reflected in the Application Module or Service Profile, this may result in overclaims of Core Funding and breach of the Funding Agreement. As described in Clause 7.7, “Failure to comply with any of the terms of this Funding Agreement may result in the withholding or suspension, claw-back and recoupment of the Funding and/or a termination of this Funding Agreement.”

If someone has concerns about a potential breach of Core Funding fee management conditions by a Partner Service, which has occurred during the 2025/2026 Programme Year, they may seek to have this examined and a conclusion reached through the Core Funding Fee Review Process.

If there is a possibility of a potential breach, the City/County Childcare Committee can, with the permission of the individual, assist with initiating the Fee Review Process.

The first point of contact before any Fee Review Stage is initiated is with your local CCC. If your local CCC receives a query where a potential fee increase is raised, they can get this examined through the Core Funding Fee Review Process.

Contact details for all CCCs can be found on https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/city-and-county-childcare-committees/.