2833. Deputy Jennifer Whitmore asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the measures being considered to reduce childcare costs for families in Wicklow; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56344/26]

Shaping the Future: The Early Years Action Plan, Phase 1 report (published on 17th December 2025) sets out measures to achieve key Programme for Government commitments on the affordability, quality, and accessibility of early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC). The Action Plan adopts a phased approach that enables action to be taken in 2026 while allowing adequate time for a broad public consultation and analysis on longer-term actions.

Results of this consultation, as well as additional analysis, will inform Phase 2 of the Action Plan. Phase 2 actions will be published later in 2026 and will be undertaken from 2027 through to the end of 2029.

To deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to progressively reduce parental fees to €200 per child per month, the Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future states that a roadmap will be set out in Phase 2 to ensure that all publicly funded providers are supported to take part in Core Funding. As noted in the Phase 1 report, this will include measures to reduce the administrative burden for providers of participating in publicly funded schemes.

Phase 2 of Shaping the Future is in development and will be published by year end.

I recently announced the details of a further reduction in maximum fee caps for the Core Funding programme year 2026/2027, beginning September 2026. These latest maximum fee caps, which apply to all Core Funding Partner Services, will place a limit on the maximum fees that can be charged. Under the new maximum fee caps, the highest possible upfront cost for a typical full day place of 45 hours per week will drop from around €198 per week to €183.70 per week with universal subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme. Higher subsidies are available for many parents, depending on their level of income and the age and number of children in their family.

The National Childcare Scheme (NCS) is currently available to parents regardless of whether or not the early learning and childcare service their child is attending is participating in Core Funding.

The NCS has undergone a number of enhancements in recent Budgets with the minimum NCS subsidy steadily rising from €0.50 in 2022 to €2.14 in September 2024 alongside extensions to eligibility. Additionally, since September 2024, the NCS has been open to Tusla-registered childminders who wish to participate in the scheme. Families availing of childminders who are participating in the NCS can claim a subsidy towards their costs. Further enhancements to the income-assessed subsidy are being introduced from September 2026, raising the base threshold from €26,000 to €34,000 and the maximum threshold from €60,000 to €68,000, with additional increases to the multiple child discounts.