Parents whose children attend nurseries in various locations across Dublin face a steep monthly price increase as the company which runs the centres plans to withdraw from a Government funding scheme, citing rising costs.
Once Upon A Time, which operates several nursery and montessori schools across Dublin, has informed parents it is withdrawing its centres in Shankill, Dundrum and Ballymount from the core funding model.
In emails sent to parents on Tuesday and Wednesday, Once Upon A Time said it has made the “difficult decision” to withdraw a number of its centres from the scheme.
The company said the change will take effect from September 1st, resulting in fees increasing to €1,472 per month in Dundrum, €1,390 per month in Shankill and €1,300 in Ballymount.
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These fees are prior to a grant from the National Childcare Scheme, which helps parents meet childcare costs, is applied – meaning parents will pay a lower monthly rate.
“This decision has not been taken lightly ... Please understand that this fee increase does not benefit us financially, it is solely to ensure we can continue to offer high-quality, dependable care to your children,” the email says.
“We are implementing a phased withdrawal from the model, beginning with our centres where fees are furthest below market rate.”
The core funding grant was introduced by the Government in 2022 to assist early-learning and childcare providers with operating costs.
In return for signing up to core funding, operators had to commit to a fee freeze. Many claimed they had already halted any increases due to the pandemic and other factors.
A number of centres have already withdrawn from the scheme, blaming rising costs, and more are expected to follow suit.
In the email sent to parents, Once Upon a Time said: “We have delayed action for the past two years in the hope that much-needed reforms would be made to the core funding model ... However, despite strong advocacy from Early Childhood Ireland, Ibec, Federation of Early Childcare Providers and Once Upon a Time, no meaningful changes have been introduced to make this model financially sustainable for private full-day care services like ours.
“We have now exhausted all efforts in our attempts to encourage the Department of Childcare [sic] to change course in relation to [core funding].”
The email says the core funding model is “deeply flawed” and “traps services in outdated, frozen fee structures while the cost of delivering quality childcare has continued to rise”.
Once Upon a Time told parents it “fully” supports pay increases for its staff but cannot afford to pay these and other expenses without increasing fees.
Elaine Dunne, chairwoman of the Federation of Early Childhood Providers, said she is aware of many centres across the country that will probably withdraw from the scheme in the coming weeks.
Ms Dunne said centres are doing this “because they have to, they have no choice – the core funding has failed them”.
She said childcare centres in Dublin typically have the highest costs but services will be affected all over the country.
“It’s not just Dublin that this is going to hit. We’re seeing a lot of people saying that they’re going to be left with no choice [but to withdraw] ... If you can’t pay your bills, if you can’t support your staff wage increase, if you can’t do any of that, you’re left with no choice at this point but to pull out of core funding.”
Ms Dunne said stakeholders in the sector are engaging with Minister for Children Norma Foley and officials in her department about the issue, but changes must urgently be made to the model.
“Somebody in Government needs to listen. There needs to be real consultation,” said Ms Dunne.
The Irish Times has contacted Once Upon a Time for comment.
A spokesperson said the Department of Children “is aware of this regrettable situation involving the withdrawal of some services operated by Once Upon a Time from Core Funding”.
In a statement on Wednesday, the spokesperson noted that core funding “has conditions attached to reduce costs for parents, to deliver improved wages for staff, to improve service quality and to protect the investment of taxpayers’ money”.
Core funding requires centres to agree to a fee freeze and the introduction of fee caps from September 1st onwards. It also requires new pay rates for staff to be in place.
“It requires a significant degree of operational and financial transparency over how services operate so that the State can be assured that public money is being used for its intended purpose and not contributing to increased private profit,” the spokesperson said.
Once Upon a Time currently receives core funding for 10 services.
“Core Funding provided to Once Upon a Time has increased from €1,650,958 in 2022/2023 to €2,388,958 in 2023/2024 and rose further to €2,566,963 in 2024/2025,” the department’s statement noted.
It added that the company’s core funding was projected to increase to €3,293,893 from September, but this figure will change due to the withdrawal of some of its centres from the scheme. The department said the planned increase in funding this year included “new funding specifically ring-fenced for pay”.
As of Wednesday, Pobal, which oversees the scheme on behalf of the department, had received two requests to cancel the core funding contracts for the Once Upon a Time services operating in Shankill and Ballymount.
The department “understands” that parents in Dundrum have also been informed of the decision to withdraw this service from core funding.
