2873. Deputy Eoin Ó Broin asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 2825 of 28 July 2026, the measures in place or being considered to protect parents from substantial fee increases when a service provider withdraws from Core Funding; the financial supports that are in place for families to meet significantly increased fees in such circumstances; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [60755/26]

Core Funding is a supply-side grant to ELC and SAC 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.

As Core Funding is an optional scheme, providers have the autonomy to withdraw from or choose not to participate in the scheme.

While the State cannot mandate providers to participate in the scheme, Core Funding has been designed with maximum participation of providers in mind as reflected in the year-on-year growth of investment in the Scheme (rising from €259 million in 2022 to over €390 million in 2025). This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding in three years.

Core Funding has enjoyed high participation from the sector since its launch in September 2022.

Parents experiencing difficulty in relation to their early learning and childcare needs should contact their local City/County Childcare Committee for assistance. For information, the Department has a list of all Core Funding Partner Services which is updated regularly on the Department's website under www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/how-to-find-a-partner-service/.

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

ECCE is a universal programme which provides 2 years of free preschool to children in the eligible age range of 2 years and 8 months to 5 years and 6 months. The Department funds private early learning and care service providers to provide the ECCE programme at a standard rate of €69 per week per child attending the ECCE programme.

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 were introduced in August 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.

The Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future: the Early Years Action Plan was published in December 2025. The report sets out the next steps in the delivery of a number of Programme for Government commitments relating to Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC).

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. 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.

To deliver on the Programme for Government commitment to progressively reduce parental fees to €200 per month, the Phase 1 report of Shaping the Future states that Phase 2 will set out a roadmap 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.