20 October 2026

National Childminding Week Highlights the Value of Childminders

Childminders play a vital role in cities, towns, villages and communities across Ireland. They support parents to work, study and train, while giving children enriching early learning experiences in a safe, nurturing home-from-home environment.

As demand for high-quality childcare continues to grow, the contribution of childminders has never been more important.

National Childminding Week is a chance to raise awareness of childminding and to celebrate the dedication childminders show every day. It also promotes childminding as a high-quality childcare option, one that offers flexibility, continuity of care and the comfort of a home setting, with benefits that reach well beyond the family.

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley said:

“Childminders make a real and lasting difference to children and families across Ireland. In homes in every county, they help children learn, play and grow in confidence, become a trusted extension of the families they care for, and give parents the reassurance to work, study and train knowing their children are safe, settled and loved.

National Childminding Week is our opportunity to say thank you. I encourage families and communities everywhere to take a moment this week to celebrate the childminders who mean so much to them.”

Throughout National Childminding Week, a range of local events and activities will take place nationwide. These events will provide opportunities for childminders to connect with one another, share experiences, learn about available supports and celebrate the positive impact they have on the lives of the families they support.

To find out about events and activities taking place in your area during National Childminding Week, visit www.letstalkchildminding.ie.

Local Childcare Committees are available to support any childminder, or anyone thinking of becoming one, visit https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/city-and-county-childcare-committees/

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• National Childminding Week takes place from 19 to 23 October 2026.
• The week aims to:
  • Celebrate the contribution of childminders to children, families and communities.
  • Raise awareness of childminding as a high-quality childcare option.
  • Promote understanding of the unique benefits of childminding.
  • Provide opportunities for childminders to connect, share experiences and learn about available supports.
• Events and activities will take place nationwide throughout the week.
• Further information is available at www.letstalkchildminding.ie.

With apologies, the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on the impacts of Budget 2027 on the Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare sector which we shared with you a short time ago was not the final version.

Ignore that last email and instead, please access the finalised FAQs by clicking this link here: Budget 2027 FAQs for Providers

Kind regards,

Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Division

As Early Learning and Care settings complete their Quality and Inclusive Practice Plans (QIPPs), the Better Start Quality Development Service is available to support the implementation of quality development goals identified within the plan.

Through on-site and online mentoring, Better Start Early Years Specialists work alongside settings to support reflection, quality improvement and meaningful practice development linked to their identified priorities.

If you would like mentoring support as part of your QIPP, you can apply through the Early Years Hive and select Better Start Quality Development Service as a quality development action.

Not sure if mentoring is right for your setting? You can raise a request through the Early Years Hive to speak with a member of the Better Start Quality Development Service team. We would be happy to discuss how mentoring works and explore how we can support your quality development goals.

View our short video to learn more about mentoring and how to apply through Hive.

]]> https://www.sligochildcare.ie/distribution-of-book-pack-to-equal-start-services/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=distribution-of-book-pack-to-equal-start-services Mon, 19 Oct 2026 09:32:01 +0000 https://www.sligochildcare.ie/?p=10704 Dear Colleagues,

The Department funded Pavee Point to develop a book pack of three books for Traveller children under 8 years. In the pack is:

• The Slug and Snail, written by Oein DeBhairduin and illustrated by Olya Anima and is best described as an Irish Traveller folktale for children.
• The Fairy Queen, written by Chrissy Donoghue Ward and illustrated by Monika Mitkute, a tale rooted in the oral story telling tradition of the Irish Traveller community.
• Sheila’s Busy Day, a book for young pre-schoolers written by Oein DeBhairduin, a wonderful real life telling of pre-schooler Sheila as she goes through her busy day.

The publication and distribution of culturally appropriate books is an action of the Traveller Roma Education Strategy. With this book pack we can be assured that young Traveller children have access to a number of high-quality Irish books supporting their culture and identity.  The books are at the printers and ready to go out to Equal Start early learning and care services in the coming weeks. The expectation is that these packs will eventually be available to all partner services in the months ahead.

If you are an Equal Start setting and have not received your book pack by the end of October, can you please contact the Equal Start Team at EqualStart@dcde.gov.ie to let us know.

Kind regards,

The Equal Start Team

As the October mid-term approaches, please remember to undertake the following tasks for NCS:

• Update your NCS service calendar to reflect any changes to your opening hours during the mid-term.
• Update your NCS service calendar with all planned closures, noting that all service providers have 10 allowable subsidised closures per programme year.
• Update claims to reflect any increased hours of attendance during the mid-term and ensure that this is confirmed with the parent/guardian.

Any increased claims must be amended once the children return to ECCE/school post mid-term. NCS subsidies cannot be claimed for hours that a child is in ECCE/school, or hours that your service is closed. Any over-claimed hours are liable to be recouped.

• If you are intending on closing for an extended period, please end date any existing claims for this period.

We advise making any necessary changes as soon as possible to ensure there are no issues when returns are submitted, and payments processed.

For further information on service calendars, please see the guidance available on the Early Years Hive here.

NCS Bridging Provisions

If your service is closed for a full week and at least one of those days is designated as a subsidised closure, you will be given the option to request a bridging provision for the closed week(s) on the NCS return one week prior to the closure.

The bridging provision allows you to receive 90% of the provisional allocations for the week(s) you are closed without the requirement to complete a return on time. You will be blocked from submitting the weekly return during this time as you will only be required to complete a fast return the following week.

ECCE: Service calendar

Providers in contract for the ECCE programme are reminded that changes to service calendars must be first approved by County Childcare Committees (CCCs) and parents must be given 20 working days’ notice in writing of any change to the service’s calendar.

Copies of such notices must be kept on file for compliance purposes.

Approved providers in contract for the ECCE programme must be open for 38 weeks over the programme year.

For further information on service calendars, please contact your local CCC or refer to the ECCE Service Calendar section of Help & Support.

If you require further assistance, please raise a Service Request using the following categories:

• Programme: ECCE
• Request Type: ECCE Calendar
• Request Type Details: General

CCSP Saver Programme: Amending sessions (e.g. a child is moving from part-time to full-time)

If a registration is changing and needs to be updated from part-time to full-time, please input a CCSP Leaver with the date the child is changing service level. A new registration should then be created with the updated level of service for the appropriate period, within 6 weeks of the start date of the new registration.

Please see ‘How to end/add a CCSP Saver Programme child registration’ on the CCSP child registration section of Help & Support for guidance:

If you require further assistance, please raise a Service Request using the following categories:

• Programme: CCSP
• Request Type: Registrations
• Request Type Details: Leaver

Regards,
Early Years Team

9 October 2026

Minister Foley releases further details of reductions in early learning and childcare costs for families in Budget 2027

Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley TD has released further details of the impact of reductions in early learning and childcare costs for families in Budget 2027.

A key priority of the Budget is making early learning and childcare more affordable for families.

The maximum fees that can be charged by providers in Core Funding will be reduced for children in both part-time and full-time care.

The National Childcare Scheme subsidy will also increase for children in early years, junior infants and senior infants from September 2027, given the higher costs faced by this group on average.

The case studies below will give examples of the savings this will generate for families with children in early learning and childcare places for different lengths of time each week.

Minister Foley said:

“Budget 2027 contains an early learning and childcare package to improve affordability for parents. The increased universal subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme, the changes to income thresholds for income-assessed subsidies, and the cuts to the maximum fees for Core Funding Partner Services will reduce costs for many families.

Budget 2027 will also provide funding to increase access to places, to support providers with a record level of Core Funding and to support the recruitment and retention of high-quality early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners.”

Parents of children in early years and up to senior infants who are enrolled in services participating in Core Funding can benefit from the new fee caps being introduced next September. Over 20 percent of providers will be required to reduce at least one of their fees.

Even if their existing fees are below the new fee caps, and will not be reduced as a result, these parents will benefit from the forthcoming increase in the universal subsidy under the National Childcare Scheme from €2.14 to €2.50 per hour, as well as the increase in the base income-threshold and multiple child deductions for income-assessed subsidies.

Parents of children in first class and upwards who are enrolled in Core Funding Partner Services for school-age childcare services can also benefit from the new fee caps being introduced next September. This will be where their current fees are in excess of the new fee caps.

Here are some examples of the impact that the changes announced in Budget 2027 will make.

1. For a family who is availing of a place for a child up to senior infant class, for 25 hours per week, their costs are currently capped at €458 per month if they receive 25 hours of universal subsidies. As part of the early learning and childcare package in Budget 2027, their bill will reduce to no more than €350 a month from next September. This means that the family will make an annual saving of €1,296 over 48 weeks.
2. For a family who is availing of a full-time place for a child up to senior infant class, five days a week, for 45 hours (e.g. during holiday periods for school-age children), their costs are currently capped at €735 per month taking universal subsidies into account. As part of the early learning and childcare package in Budget 2027, their bill will reduce to no more than €550 a month from next September – or by 25%. This means that the family will make an annual saving of over €2,200 over 48 weeks.
3. For a family who is availing of a full-time place for a child up to senior infant class, five days a week, for 50 hours, their costs are currently capped at around €959 per month taking universal subsidies into account. As part of the early learning and childcare package in Budget 2027, their bill will reduce to no more than €750 a month from next September. This means that the family will make an annual saving of over €2,500 per year over 48 weeks.
4. For a family who is availing of a full-time place for a child who is in first class or higher, five days a week, for 45 hours during school holidays, their costs are currently capped at €183.70 per week taking universal subsidies into account. While they will not qualify for increased universal subsidies, the fee caps in the early learning and childcare package in Budget 2027 means their bill will reduce by 16% to no more than €137.50 a week from next September.
5. For a family who is availing of a full-time place for a child up to senior infant class, five days a week, for 45 hours (e.g. during holiday periods for school-age children) paying an average (median) fee of €800 per month, their costs are currently capped at €414.80 per month if they receive 45 hours of universal subsidy per week. As part of the early learning and childcare package in Budget 2027, their bill is below the new maximum fee caps but it will reduce to €350 a month from next September due to increased universal subsidies. This means that the family will make an annual saving of over €777 over 48 weeks.

The examples provided above are for families accessing the universal subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme. Families on lower incomes can qualify for higher, income-assessed subsidies under the National Childcare Scheme.

As part of Budget 2027, the base income threshold for families for the National Childcare Scheme will be raised from €34,000 to €38,500 as an anti-poverty measure for children, allowing more families to benefit from the maximum subsidies under the Scheme from September 2027.

The Access and Inclusion Model supports for children with disabilities in the Early Childhood Education and Care (ECCE) programme will be extended to children under three years of age from September 2027, benefitting an estimated 1,000 young children.

Core Funding for over 4,600 providers of early learning and childcare will increase by more than €170m, to over €650 million for the next Programme year, commencing in September.

Included in that is funding in the region of €50 million specifically ringfenced to support new negotiations by the independent Early Years Services Joint Labour Committee, for another Employment Regulation Order for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners from September.

Further information:

Fee band (for Core Funding Partner Services)	Current Maximum Weekly Fee Cap for Providers	Maximum Weekly Fee Cap for Providers From September 2027	Example weekly National Childcare Scheme Universal subsidy for parents	Example weekly National Childcare Scheme Universal subsidy for parents of children up to senior infants from September 2027
<10 hours	€56	€50	€10.70 (5 hours)	€12.50 (5 hours)
10<20 hours	€112	€100	€32.10 (15 hours)	€37.50 (15 hours)
20<30 hours	€168	€150	€53.50 (25 hours)	€62.50 (25 hours)
30<40 hours	€224	€200	€74.90 (35 hours)	€87.50 (35 hours)
40<50 hours	€280	€250	€96.30 (45 hours)	€112.50 (45 hours)
50 hours or more	€336	€300	€96.30 (45 hours)	€112.50 (45 hours)

Maximum parental payment for families on universal subsidy

Current maximum parental payment for 45-hour place for a child on universal subsidy

	Children up to end of Senior Infants		1st Class children upwards
	Weekly	Monthly	Weekly	Monthly
Maximum fee for 40-50 hour place	€280	€1,120	€280	€1,120
National Childcare Scheme universal subsidy for 45 hours	€96.30	€385.2	€96.30	€385.2
Parent payment	€183.70	€734.80	€183.70	€734.80

Note: in the table, a month refers to a 4-week period.

Future maximum parental payment for 45-hour place for a child on universal subsidy (from September 2027)

	Children up to end of Senior Infants		1st Class children upwards
	Weekly	Monthly	Weekly	Monthly
Maximum fee for 40-50 hour place	€250	€1000	€250	€1000
National Childcare Scheme universal subsid for 45 hours	€112.50	€450	€96.30	€385.2
Parental payment	€137.50	€550	€153.70	€614.80
Saving		€184.80 per month		€120 per month

Note: in the table, a month refers to a 4-week period.

• 25% reduction in maximum co-payment for children on universal subsidy up to end of Senior Infants
• 16% reduction in maximum co-payment for 1^st class children receiving 45 hours of universal subsidy
• Co-payments for families receiving an income assessed subsidy are lower.

Co-payment for families on universal subsidy in a service charging the average fee

Current parental payment for a child on the median fee claiming 45-hours universal subsidy (current)

	Children up to end of Senior Infants		1st Class children upwards (out of term)
Average (median) fee	€200	€800	€175	€700
National Childcare Scheme universal subsidy for 45 hours	€96.30	€385.2	€96.30	€385.20
Parent payment	€103.70	€414.80	€78.70	€314.80

Future parental payment for a child on the median fee claiming 45-hours universal subsidy (from September 2027)

	Children up to end of Senior Infants		1st Class children upwards (out of term)
Average (median) fee	€200	€800	€175	€700
National Childcare Scheme universal subsid for 45 hours	€112.50	€450	€96.30	€385.20
Parent payment	€87.50	€350	€78.70	€314.80
Saving		€64.80 per month

• 16% reduction in co-payment for median fee for children receiving 45 hours of universal subsidy up to end of Senior Infants
• No change in co-payment for 1^st class children upwards for families on universal subsidy in an average-fee service.
• Co-payments for families receiving an income assessed subsidy are lower.

ENDS

Please find attached a press release related to announcement by Minister for Children, Disability and Equality, Norma Foley of the proposed locations of new early learning and childcare projects under the State-led early learning and childcare capital programme. 

The announcement outlines progress to date on the programme, which aims to increase the supply of high-quality, affordable early learning and childcare places across the country through direct State investment.

The Department is continuing to consider proposals for projects under the State-led capital programme. Local City and County Childcare Committees are supporting the development of projects. Project proposals can be brought to the attention of the Department through completion of a preliminary appraisal form which is available from City and County Childcare Committees. 

Further information on the programme is available here: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/publications/state-led-early-learning-and-childcare-capital-programme/

Kind regards,

Early Learning and Care and School-Age Childcare Division

Webinar Title: Using picture books to support early Maths Week 2026

Webinar Date: 8th October

Webinar time: 19.00-20.30

Overview of webinar content:

The updated Aistear (2024) identifies that children’s lives are enriched by numeracy experiences in their everyday lives. This webinar will explore basic maths concepts in early childhood and support educators to ‘use their maths eyes’ to find the maths in everything they do. Well known picture books will be explored to demonstrate that maths really is all around us when we know where and how to look.

This webinar is also available through the medium of Irish on the 15th of October – see below

Registration Link: Click Here

Webinar Title: Maths Week 2026 Webinar Using early years Maths resources in my setting.

Webinar Date: 14th October

Webinar time: 14.00-15.00

Overview of webinar content:

The updated Aistear (2024) framework highlights that babies, toddlers and young children come to understand concepts such as matching, comparing, ordering, sorting, estimating, counting, spatial awareness, size, weight, height, length, capacity and money through play and meaningful everyday experiences.

This webinar will explore key early maths concepts and illustrate how these ideas can be supported in play through the provision of a math-rich environment.

Join us to find out what small changes can make big difference in supporting early math with the youngest children.

Registration Link: Click Here

Webinar Title: Páistí ag aimsiú máta trí scéalta gach lá Seachtain na Máta 2026 

Webinar Date: 15th October

Webinar time: 14.00 – 15:30

Overview of webinar content:

Aithnítear in Aistear nuashonraithe (2024) go saibhrítear saol leanaí trí eispéiris uimhearthachta ina saol laethúil. 

 Sa seimineár gréasáin seo, déanfar iniúchadh ar bhunchoincheapa matamaitice sa luath-óige agus tabharfar tacaíocht d’oideoirí “a súile matamaitice a úsáid” chun an mhatamaitic a aithint i ngach a déanann siad. 

 Bainfear úsáid as pictiúrleabhair aitheanta chun a léiriú go bhfuil an mhatamaitic mórthimpeall orainn, nuair a bhíonn a fhios againn cá háit agus conas í a aithint. 

Reáchtálfar an seimineár gréasáin seo i nGaeilge.

Registration Link: Click Here

For queries relating to all events please contact professionaldevelopment@betterstart.ie