An Early Childcare Education provider in Cork says that a multitude of unknown factors means he can't welcome the New Funding proposal "with open arms".
The new Core Funding Model was announced by the Department of Children and Youth last month.
The Federation of Early Childcare Providers surveyed 1,000 providers and found that 56 said their services will not stay open based on the current model.
The 221-million-euro fund is dependent on two main terms - that two thirds of the money will go toward staff wages and that providers must agree not to raise their fees above 2021 levels.
The Federation says the funding model will mean some providers will make a loss or just break even.
John Bowman of BEL Childcare in Douglas says childcare operators are being asked to cap fees without knowing their cost base or future wage bills:
"I would love to be able to welcome it with open arms, but there are so many unknowns around it at the moment that it's very, very hard to welcome it currently because we were looking at a situation where our costs are spiralling and the main stipulation of this Core Funding is that we agreed to cap fees at 2021 levels. Now, as we all know, the cost of living has really risen sharply since then. So it's a very strange time to be asked to cap fees. We're being asked to look at the Core Funding when we don't know what our cost base is, and we don't know what our wage bill is going to be, so it's a very, very difficult one to welcome unreservedly".
