2857. Deputy Mark Wall asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the additional funding required to reduce the costs of childcare for parents to respectively €50 per week or €200 per month; the additional allocations required, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [56698/26]

It is not possible at this time to provide an accurate estimate of the additional funding required to reduce the costs of childcare for parents to respectively €50 per week or €200 per month with the information currently available. To model a change such as this accurately would require individualised fee data on out-of-pocket costs for parents, which is not currently available. In addition, to estimate the additional funding required, it would be necessary to consider the behavioural shift that would likely occur as a result of a significant subsidy increase, including increases in labour market participation, changes in usage of childcare, and use of formal childcare for the first time.

The National Childcare Scheme provides financial support to help families with their early learning and childcare costs. There are two types of subsidies available for children aged between 24 weeks and 15 years of age:

- A universal subsidy which is not means tested and provides €2.14 per hour for a maximum of 45 hours per week;

- An income-assessed subsidy which is means tested and is calculated based on a family’s individual circumstances. Rates will vary depending on the level of family income, the child’s age and educational stage, and the number of children in a family.

Each year Pobal compiles data from Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) providers as part of the Early Years Sector Profile. This provides the Department with data on the average weekly fee per child before subsidies. According to the most recently published fee data for the 2024/25 programme year, the median weekly fee is €200 for full day early learning and childcare. However, this average fee figure does not accurately capture the variation across the ELC and SAC sector. These fees vary significantly based on the location of the service, usage patterns (i.e. sessional, part-time, full time) and age of the child.

The Programme for Government has committed to establishing a cap on costs at €200 per child per month to further build on significant progress in affordability that has already been made through a number of existing Schemes.

The fee-freeze and maximum fee-caps required for Core Funding have been key to the progress in recent years in making ELC and SAC services more affordable. 2026 actions on affordability will include further reduction in some of the highest fees paid by parents by lowering the maximum fees that Core Funding Partner Services can charge. In addition, from autumn 2026 we will reduce out of pocket costs for lower-income families through the National Childcare Scheme.

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.

Shaping the Future, the Early Years Action Plan, Phase 1 Report sets out the next steps for building an affordable, high-quality, accessible early learning and childcare system, informed by stakeholder consultation. A central objective of Shaping the Future is to reduce parental fees to an upper limit of €200 per month over the lifetime of the Government. Results of an ongoing consultation process and additional analysis of available data will inform Phase 2. Phase 2 (which will be published later this year) will set out actions to be undertaken from 2027 through to the end of 2029.