3104. Deputy Naoise Ó Muirí asked the Minister for Children, Disability and Equality the core funding levels of support per hour to childcare providers; the payments for specific additional elements delivered, which will apply for the coming school year; the level of increase in each case compared to last year; and the estimated number of providers and children served by those who have continued operating under the scheme and by those who have left the scheme. [63884/26]

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 will exceed €482 million in the fifth programme year, which starts in September. This represents an increase of 86% in Core Funding over four years.

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.

The calculation of a services Core Funding grant contains multiple elements – the Base Rate, Graduate Premiums, Targeted Measures and the Staff Funding Additional Contributions.

The table below provides a breakdown of the hourly rates payable through the Base Rate from 1 September 2026.

The targeted measures consist of a flat rate top-up for sessional-only services, a minimum base rate allocation and a maximum base rate allocation.

The flat rate top-up for sessional-only services was introduced in Year 2 of the scheme at an annual rate of €4,075 and increased to €5,000 in programme year 3. The annual rate of €5,000 remains in place for the fifth programme year and is paid to services who are registered with Tusla to offer only sessional provision. Approximately 1,100 Partner Services are anticipated to receive the flat rate top-up in the 2026/2027 programme year.

The minimum base rate allocation was similarly introduced in Year 2 at a rate of €8,150 and increased significantly to €14,000 in programme year 3, before increasing further to €14,400 in programme year 4. The minimum base rate allocation remains at €14,400 for the 2026/2027 programme year. Approximately 700 Partner Services are anticipated to be in receipt of the minimum base rate allocation in the 2026/2027 programme year.

When first introduced in programme year 2, the maximum base rate allocation was set at €600,000. This allocation was reduced to €500,000 during the third programme year and reduced further to €450,000 in programme year 4.

The maximum base rate allocation remains at €450,000 for the current programme year. A breakdown of the targeted measures payable under Core Funding is provided below.

The graduate premiums, including the Graduate Lead Educator Premium and the Graduate Manager Premium support graduate leadership in services and will continue to be paid out a rate of €4.44 per graduate-led hour. A breakdown of the funding allocated through the graduate premiums is provided below in tabular form.

In the 2025/2026 Programme Year, a new element of the calculation was introduced to centre-based services to distribute ring-fenced funding for improvements to staff pay and conditions – the Staff Funding Additional Contribution (SFAC).

Within the Core Funding allocation for the 2025/26 programme year, €45 million was ringfenced to support employers to meet the costs of the latest increases to the minimum rates of pay in the sector.

The increased annual allocation for the 2026/2027 programme year also includes up to a maximum of €45 million to support providers to meet possible additional cost of increases in minimum rates of pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners through independently negotiated rates of pay by the early years services Joint Labour Committee.

A second Staff Funding Additional Contribution (SFAC2) will be allocated to Partner Services to distribute this new funding, contingent on new EROs being established in the 2026/2027 Programme Year.

The table below provides information on services participating in Core Funding for programme year 4.

The maximum number of ELC and SAC places reported by participating services at any one point in time was used to calculate an overall capacity figure. This represents the number of children that participating services reported they could accommodate at the time the data was collected. The figure reflects the position as of August 2026.

The Department can provide capacity information for services participating in Core Funding, as this information is collected and maintained as part of the programme's administration for the purposes of calculating partner service allocations. However, it is not possible to provide a robust estimate of the childcare capacity associated with services that are not participating in Core Funding.

The Department does not hold a comprehensive or consistently maintained source of capacity data for those services outside the scheme. Any estimate of the capacity of services that are not participating in Core Funding would therefore be incomplete and potentially misleading.

The approach to identify services that have withdrawn from Core Funding from the current programme year forward is to use the formal notification of withdrawal from the scheme to the scheme administrator Pobal. Therefore, according to information provided by Pobal, the scheme administrator, 8 services notified Pobal of their intention to withdraw from Core Funding in the 2025/2026 programme year. Of these, 3 subsequently cancelled their withdrawal or re-joined the scheme.

Services may choose to leave the scheme mid-year for a multitude of reasons including being denied a fee increase, temporary closures, financial difficulties, administrative requirements and personal reasons such as retirement. Many services have left and later re-joined the scheme.

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