rom Department of Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth
Published on 1 October 2024
Last updated on 1 October 2024
• Overall Budget allocation focused on Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth of €8 billion
• 24% increase (€265.8m) in investment in Early Learning and Childcare to €1.37bn
• Increased funding for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, of almost €145m
• Minister Rabbitte has secured an additional €335.8m for disability services, with budget surpassing €3bn for the first time
• Additional €6.95m (9% increase) secured to support and expand youth services.
The Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth, Roderic O’Gorman, has secured a Budget 2025 package which will deliver on services for children and people in greatest need.
The Minister announced today an overall increase of 11% which is an additional €837m for the Vote group and the highest ever year-on-year increase in funding for the Department. This brings the overall funding allocated to the Department in Budget 2025 to over €8bn.
Minister O’Gorman said:
“The increase in funding reflects the level of demand and funding required to provide assistance to children, young people and some of the most vulnerable people in our country. It is essential in enabling us to advance our vision of a fair, equal, and inclusive society, where rights are respected and where everyone – from childhood onwards – is supported to achieve their potential.”
The funding builds on the substantial investment in 2024 in Early Learning and Childcare, with total funding in 2025 of over €1.37 billion, an increase of 24% or almost €266m. This supports the full year costs of the significant National Childcare Scheme subsidy increases for parents introduced this September 2024.
It also ensures the continued expansion of the numbers of children supported under the National Childcare Scheme, ECCE and AIM. Added to that, it ensures the continued roll-out and expansion of Core Funding and Equal Start, with new funding to support improved pay for early years educators and school-age childcare practitioners. It will also deliver an additional nutrition programme to early learning and childcare settings operating in the context of concentrated disadvantage.
Further funding of €145m or 14% is being put into child welfare and family support services delivered by Tusla. This funding will deliver:
• Further investment and support towards children in foster care, including funding for extra support to foster families during the initial placement of a new foster child, and additional mileage support for foster carers bringing children to appointments.
• Maintain and support Family Support Services and early intervention and preventative programmes across Ireland including an expansion to the network of Family Resource Centres, and
• Increased Special Care and Residential Care provision.
• Increased funding to meet growing numbers of separated children seeking international protection.
Additional funding of almost €336m (a 12% increase over 2024) is being provided to HSE disability services, bringing the overall budget to €3.2bn. This increased funding will deliver:
• In the region of 70 additional residential places, as well as supporting the transition of people from congregated settings and under-65s from nursing homes to more appropriate housing in the community.
• Continued support for respite services, particularly alternative respite such as weekend clubs, equine therapy respite, afterschool clubs and tea-time respite.
• Development of new Autism Innovation Fund for local community groups supporting autistic children and adults.
• Progressive alignment of the PA hourly rate and the Home Support rate in line with Older Persons Services.
Minister Rabbitte said:
“This year’s allocation demonstrates the Government’s strong commitment to building capacity in disability services. This funding will provide greater investment in a range of service areas such as residential, respite, children’s services, day services, PA, Home Support and neurological community services.
“I will continue in 2025 to do the very best I can for people with disabilities and their families, to provide intervention and care when it is needed and to progressively deliver tangible improvements to the lives of people with disabilities.”
Minister O’Gorman concluded:
“Across my Department, we are entrusted with responsibility for children and some of the most vulnerable people in our country – children in care, refugees, survivors, people with disabilities, people who may be facing disadvantage and discrimination. This investment will support us to deliver for each of these groups.
We continue to build on previous budgets in driving down costs for all parents, improving quality and expanding access to early learning and childcare for all families. This includes targeted measures for children with disabilities and children from disadvantaged backgrounds.
We continue to increase investment in disability services, child protection and family support services and youth services. All of this is with a view to supporting those in need to feel safe, respected and empowered to reach their full potential”.
ENDS
Notes to the Editor
Early Learning and Childcare
The 2025 allocation of €1.37bn will allow the Department to consolidate and build on recent progress. This includes continuing the implementation of:
• The National Childcare Scheme (NCS), with more than 216,000 individual children set to benefit from the Scheme in 2025. This is by far the largest number of children ever to benefit from NCS.
• The universal Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, which will benefit over 107,000 children in 2025, and the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM) to enable c7,800 children with a disability to access and meaningfully participate in the ECCE programme.
• Continue the implementation of Year 3 of Core Funding, with enhancements in Year 4 of the Scheme. Importantly, these include new ring-fenced funding to support employers in meeting further increases in minimum rates of pay for those working in the sector, arising from future negotiated Employment Regulation Orders by the independent Early Years Services Joint Labour Committee.
• Advance implementation of Year 1 of Equal Start, with enhancements in Year 2. These include a new measure of an Additional Nutrition Programme in Equal Start Priority Settings, as well as supports for the development and rollout of Parent Community Coordinator training, and Diversity, Equality and Inclusion training.
• Deliver new early learning and childcare places for children under 3 under the Building Blocks Extension Scheme.
Child Protection and Wellbeing
• Budget 2024 sees an increase of almost 14% in funding for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency.
• Budget 2025 also includes an allocation of €0.3m which will be used to provide a bonus payment at the start of each initial placement. This will aim to alleviate the substantial out-of-pocket expenses during the initial placement period, which can deter potential foster carers from coming forward and can strain the resources of those already fostering.
• Tusla are facing an unprecedented increase in demand for services from children, who are separated from their families, who have come to Ireland. This Budget provides significant additional resources to the teams in Tusla who are dedicated to helping these children.
Youth Services
• For youth services, €84.9m is being allocated in Budget 2025 to current expenditure to youth services, an increase across current and capital funding of €7 million, or 9%, on the 2024 budget.
• This additional funding will expand youth work service capacity and enable 10 new targeted youth services to be opened. It will also fund a new pilot initiative to address holiday hunger among young people attending youth work services.
• It will allow for the implementation of a new national strategy for youth work and related services and support the expansion of initiatives to enable children and young people to participate in decision making within the framework of the Participation of Children and Young People in Decision-Making Action Plan 2023-2028.
Disability
• Minister O’Gorman and Minister Rabbitte have secured €3.2 billion of current funding for Specialist Community Based Disability Services next year. This amounts to an 11.6% increase in funding on last year and represents an overall increase of €1.2bn since 2020.
• This significant level of funding recognises the challenges facing the sector including the increased cost of service provision, pay cost pressures and service provider sustainability.
• It will mean that 2025 will see some further expansion, including in relation to Children’s Services, Day Services, Residential Services, and Personal Assistance Hours. This expansion will further assist people to continue living independently in their own homes.
• This allocation will support the continued implementation of the Action Plan for Disability Services and the roll out of the Roadmap for Service Improvement for Disability Services.
• €27m will be invested in a range of infrastructure developments supporting areas such as Respite, Residential, and day services.
Equality
• Increased funding has been secured for equality to drive forward new national strategies – on Travellers and Roma, LGBTI+ inclusion and on women and girls. This funding will strengthen the Government to address key equality issues and to improve opportunities for diverse groups at risk of discrimination.
• A 62% increase in LGBTI funding has been agreed which provides crucial resources towards strengthening the LGBTI+ infrastructure and will enable a much larger number of LGBTI projects to be funded.
• As part of the Department’s commitment to enabling Ireland to meet its international human rights monitoring obligations, the budget of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission has been increased by €1.021m (a 12% increase).
Ukraine response
• Budget 2025 includes funding which will enable the Department continue to meet Ireland’s responsibilities in relation to the provision of access to, or the means to access, temporary emergency accommodation for Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection (BOTPs) fleeing the war in Ukraine.
• This funding allows for continued support for people currently living in DCEDIY-supported accommodation and pledged accommodation as they continue to make their way towards independent living in 2025.
International Protection
• Additional funding has been secured to work towards meeting Ireland’s legal obligation to receive and accommodate International Protection Applicants and for increased Community Engagement and communications, to assist with engagement with local communities and stakeholders on the opening of new accommodation centres.
• €8.4m has been secured for child supports. This will fund the International Protection Child Payment being rolled out in 2025, benefitting an average of 5,000 eligible children per month. This is a crucial part of improving integration and reducing child poverty.
Mother & Baby Institutions Payment Scheme
• Budget 2025 has ensured funding of almost €125m to continue the Government’s response to the legacy of Mother and Baby Institutions, including implementation of the Payment Scheme, the intervention at Tuam, the Special Advocate for Survivors, and the National Centre for Research and Remembrance.
