3031. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality to outline the measures she is taking to ensure that the core funding scheme provides adequate and sustainable support to early learning and childcare providers; the steps being taken to support the recruitment and retention of staff across the sector; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [58517/26]

Core Funding is a supply-side grant to early learning and childcare providers towards their operating costs. It is designed to promote affordability for parents and sustainability for providers through increased funding to the sector, paid on a consistent and equitable basis.

Since the scheme was introduced, its effectiveness has been subject to ongoing assessment, which has facilitated the iterative evolution of this scheme.

The annual changes to the allocation model and in the conditions attached to the funding has ensured the Scheme remains responsive, balancing the needs of providers while seeking also to meet a range of other objectives.

When first introduced in 2022, Core Funding had an annual allocation of €259 million, of which, €210.8 million was entirely new funding to the sector.

That annual allocation has increased each year since and exceeds €390 million for the fourth, and current, year of Core Funding. This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding over 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, which begins in September 2026, increase to over €480 million. That is an increase of over €90 million, or 23%, on the current full year allocation.

This increased investment will allow for further increases in capacity across the sector, with €21.4 million specifically set aside to support Partner Services in adhering to Core Funding fee management conditions, including reductions in the maximum fee caps, from September 2026. This will guarantee that Core Funding’s monetary protections will continue to be passed on to families while ensuring sustainability and stability for the sector.

The majority of Core Funding is distributed to Partner Services via the Base Rate, which is based on a service’s staffed capacity – the opening hours, operating weeks, the age group for whom services are provided, and the number of places available. Core Funding allocations are based on staffed places, not on child registrations and attendance levels. This provides services a guaranteed minimum income, supporting stability where attendance may be fluctuating.

The base rates in Core Funding have been developed using the various components associated with the cost of delivery of service provision, such as staff pay and conditions (including contact and non-contact time), holiday pay, sick pay and other employer costs (such as pension contributions), administrative staff/time, and non-staff overhead costs. These components have been factored into the calculation of the budget for Core Funding since the scheme began in 2022.

In addition to increased funding, the Department has made changes to improve the sustainability of providers through, for example, targeted measures for small and sessional services, and a fee increase assessment and approval process for services with fees frozen at unsustainably low rates.

Core Funding also operates alongside the National Childcare Scheme, the Early Childhood Care and Education programme, the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) and Equal Start and constitutes additional income for providers on top of funding for these schemes, as well as income from parental fees.

In addition to this increased allocation, being in Core Funding unlocks additional supports for services to access, including:

• access to wider financial supports where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability;

• access to enhanced support for services caring for concentrated numbers of children facing disadvantage through Equal Start; and

• opportunities to apply for capital grants through the Department.

There are also wider financial supports available from the Department where a service is experiencing financial difficulty or has concerns about their viability, which can be accessed through their local City/County Childcare Committee while remaining within Core Funding.

I would encourage any service experiencing financial difficulty and who would like support to contact their CCC to access case management supports. Contact details for the CCCs can be found at www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/city-and-county-childcare-committees/

I am confident in the adequacy of Core Funding for this sector. However, there is a safety net in place for the small number of services who may for any number of reasons require additional supports, to ensure that they can continue to provide this vital service for the public good.

I believe the roles of the early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners are valuable ones, and they play an important part in supporting children's development, learning and care.

Pay is one of a number of challenges impacting the early learning and care and school-age childcare workforce. The level of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners does not reflect the value of their work for children, families, society and the economy.

Although the Government is the primary funder of the sector, it is not the employer and cannot directly set wages or conditions for any staff in the sector.

The Joint Labour Committee (JLC) is the formal mechanism established by which employer and employee representatives can negotiate minimum pay rates, which are set down in Employment Regulation Orders (ERO), and is independent in its functions.

Pay and conditions are improving. Through the work of the JLC and successive ERO, minimum pay rates have now risen three times in four years, delivering an average 15% increase in minimum rates of pay. This marks significant progress in professionalising the workforce. The latest ERO came into effect in October 2025 which saw an increase in minimum pay rates of, on average, 10% and will increase pay for over 67% of staff in the sector.

Outcomes from the JLC process are supported by Government through Core Funding. In this programme year 2025/26 Core Funding has increased by 6% to approximately €350 million with an additional €45 million in ring-fenced Core Funding provided to support services in meeting the increased cost of minimum pay rates in the sector.

For programme year 2026/2027, I recently announced that Core Funding will be increased by 23% to €480 million. This includes the additional €45 million that has been ringfenced from September 2026 to support services in meeting the potential costs of increasing rates of pay, contingent upon new ERO being enacted following successful negotiations by the independent JLC.

I recognise that supporting the workforce is essential to ensuring quality in early learning and care and school-age childcare. This funding will help to make further progress on improving pay while maintaining the strong partnership between the State and providers.

In line with the commitment in the Programme for Government to continue to support ERO to attract and retain early years educators, I met with JLC representatives in April to outline the Government's continued support for the improvement of pay for educators and practitioners working in the sector and the JLC process.

The Department continues to support the JLC and the negotiation process by fulfilling data requests which it has received from the JLC members.

A longer-term workforce strategy for the sector is in place: "Nurturing Skills: The Workforce Plan for Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare, 2022-2028". Nurturing Skills aims to strengthen the ongoing process of professionalisation for those working in the sector.

One of the five "pillars" of Nurturing Skills comprises commitments aimed at supporting recruitment, retention and diversity in the workforce, and it includes actions to raise the profile of careers in the sector.

In December 2023, a Sub-Group of the Early Learning and Childcare Stakeholder Forum was established to address recruitment and retention challenges. The group has advanced initiatives including:

• A Student Fast-track Process for recognition of studies to work in service out of term,

• The assessment of unfinished qualifications, where people who may have started a relevant qualification but did not get to finish it, can have what they completed assessed for meeting qualification requirements

• An agreement to promote careers in the sector

Another action from the plan currently under development is a communications campaign which will include a series of videos and information packs aimed at promoting the Early Learning and Care and School-age Childcare profession.

The packs will be provided to career guidance counsellors and other key bodies who support individuals in making education and employment decisions, with the aim of raising awareness of career opportunities and pathways within Early Learning and Care and School-age Childcare sector.

The Department acknowledges the challenges faced by staff in relation to stress and well-being, with administrative burden often cited as a key factor to those pressures. To help support the welfare and wellness of the sector, a pilot employee assistance programme is underway in five CCC areas and there is now a commitment to a nationwide rollout.

In addition, to further support staff retention and increase the number of degree level graduates in the sector, the Nurturing Skills Learner Fund was established to enable early years educators who continue to work within the sector to pursue Level 7 and 8 qualifications in support of the First 5 and subsequently Nurturing Skills objective of a 'graduate led' Early Learning and Care workforce.

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund assists in the financial costs for early years educators who wish to pursue Early Learning and Care qualifications approved by the Qualifications Advisory Board at Level 7 and level 8 while continuing to work in the sector, in a service in contract for Core Funding.

Nurturing Skills Learner Fund pays up to 90% of Course Fees excluding student levies. Over 550 early years educators have been offered financial support to upskill to Level 7 and Level 8 Early Learning and Care Qualifications for the Academic Year 2026/2027 beginning in Autumn 2026.

Since its inception in 2024 Nurturing Skills Learner Fund have offered financial support to over 1250 Educators.

The Nurturing Skills Learner Fund demonstrates how Government is already delivering on the Programme for Government commitment to ‘remove barriers in education and training for early years educators to broaden access to the profession.

Aligned to the Programme for Government commitment to introduce an ‘Earn and Learn’ apprenticeship model enabling staff in this sector to gain qualifications and advance their careers, Pillar 4 of Nurturing Skills includes an action to examine the development of a range of entry routes into the sector, including apprenticeships or other work-based learning, and access programmes in further education and higher education. Research on alternative entry routes was received recently.

The Department is reviewing the research, with a view to using it to inform next steps. While Nurturing Skills commits to examine alternative entry-routes, the development of an apprenticeship would rely on the formulation of proposals by the sector and would require approval by the National Apprenticeship Office.