3019. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the number of childcare services registered with Tusla in the Dublin Bay North constituency; the number currently participating in core funding; the number not participating, by type of service, including full day care, part-time, sessional and school-age childcare, showing separately the number participating and not participating in core funding for each category, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [62630/26]

Core Funding is a supply-side grant to providers designed to support quality, sustainability, and enhanced public management, with associated condition in relation to fee control and cost transparency, incorporating funding for administration and to support the employment of graduate staff.

The introduction of Core Funding in 2022 brought a significant increase in investment for the sector. €259 million of funding was made available for services in year 1 of the scheme, of which €210.8 million was entirely new funding to the sector. That annual allocation has increased each year since and has exceeded €390 million for year 4 of the Scheme, which started in September. This represents an increase of over 50% in Core Funding in three years.

The additional funding being made available in 2026 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 additional €89.3 million on the current full year allocation, or a 23% increase.

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.

Core Funding information is collected at City and County Childcare Committee level across Ireland. There are 30 City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) which coordinate the implementation of national early learning and childcare policy and programmes at a local level on behalf of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.

CCCs support parents and guardians to understand their early learning and childcare options and keep an updated directory of Early Learning Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) services in their local areas. Due to the reporting and collection of data, the table below provides information on the level of participation in Dublin City and Fingal, broken down by service type, as per August 2026.

Please note, the total cohort of services reviewed are Tusla registered services eligible for Core Funding in the 2025/2026 Programme Year. There are several Tusla Registered Services such as Drop-In centres who are ineligible to attract Core Funding, services of this type are not included in the list of associated Eligible and Ineligible services below.