Children’s Minister Norma Foley will try to lower upper limits on fees to reach its ambitious target to cut costs to €200 a month per child.
Government sources revealed that reducing the maximum fees that providers can charge is the key element of its plan to dramatically ease the burden on overstretched parents.
Fee caps have already been rolled out for providers who are part of the Government’s Core Funding scheme.
But the department will now scrutinise service providers’ latest financial records to see how they could be reduced even more.
Parents also get subsidies to reduce their costs that will also be factored into calculations to achieve the €200 figure.
Providers who must reduce fees due to the new upper limits will be eligible for extra funding.
Education Minister Norma Foley. Photo: Gerry Mooney
Today’s News in 90 Seconds, Saturday October 11
A department spokesperson said further details of the fee cap will be announced in the “coming months”. He said it will apply to all services in the Core Funding scheme from September next year.
There are currently six fee caps, depending on the number of hours of childcare provided a week.
The fee cap for less than 10 hours of services is €59, while it is €295 for between 40 hours and 49 hours and 59 minutes a week.
The highest fee cap of €354 is for 50 hours or more of childcare a week.
The maximum benefit can be provided for parents
At her budget press conference, Ms Foley revealed new maximum fee caps will be part of the plan to reach the Programme for Government commitment of €200 per child a month.
The department spokesperson said the aim is to ensure that the “maximum benefit can be provided for parents”.
He said the department will be “analysing the latest financial returns from providers to see what is possible”.
The spokesperson said “enhanced fee-management measures” are going to be used to achieve standardisation of the fees charged to parents and the income received by early learning and childcare services.
“Budget 2026 contains a commitment to introduce a new maximum fee cap to reduce costs for families paying the highest fees across the country,” the spokesperson said.
He said the Government is developing an action plan for affordable, high-quality accessible childcare.
The spokesperson said the document will set out plans to achieve the commitment to maximum monthly fees of €200.
Providers who are part of the State’s Core Funding scheme must freeze their fees.
The government decision to impose fee caps has been a more recent move.
They were introduced in September last year for services joining the scheme for the first time. The caps apply to all services since September this year.
When the maximum fees were set, 460 services were identified as having at least one fee option above the maximum fee. They were required to reduce their fees from September 1.