Speech by Minister for Children, Disability and Equality Norma Foley on Budget 2026

I’m pleased to be here this afternoon to outline the key elements of the Budget 2026 allocation for the Department of Children, Disability and Equality.

I would like to welcome Minister of State for Disability Hildegarde Naughton, the department’s secretary general Kevin McCarthy and all the senior officials in the department who have worked so hard in negotiating this budget.

This is the first of five budgets where we begin the journey to achieve three key objectives.

1) To secure additional funding to deliver the step change in disability services that is so urgently needed for disabled people

2) To deliver more affordable, accessible and high quality early learning and childcare

3) To boost support for the child welfare and protection services delivered by Tusla, the child and family agency.

There are substantial increases in Budget 2026 for each of these priorities.

This year’s budget sees €3.8 billion allocated to Disability, just over half of all funding allocated to the Department.

Another €1.48 billion has been allocated to Early Learning and Childcare funding in Budget 2026 which is an increase of €125 million.

The allocation for Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, has been increased by €165 million to €1.336 billion.

This brings the overall figure allocated to the Department of Children, Disability and Equality in Budget 2026 to over €7 billion, which is a 15 per cent increase on Budget 2025.

This is the first budget since responsibility for migration was transferred to the Department of Justice. That means that around €2 billion in budget for these functions was also transferred. The youth services budget has also been transferred to the Department of Education as part of the reorganisation of functions.

Disability

At the outset, I would like to give you an overview of some of the key measures in the Budget and what they mean for disabled people and their families.

As a country and as a society, we can and must do better for people with disabilities.

That was the promise that we as a government made in the recently published National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People.

Go stairiúil, dar liom, bhí easpa airgid ann chun seirbhísí a chur ar fail do dhaoine faoi mhíchumas.

Tá dul chun cinn suntasach déanta le blianta beaga anuas chun an maoiniú do sheirbhísí míchumais a mhéadú, agus sa Bhuiséad seo, táimid ag déanamh dul chun cinn tábhachtach eile.

Is céim tabhachtach é Buiséad Fiche Fiche Sé chun seirbhísí feabhsaithe agus neamhspleáchas a bhaint amach do dhaoine faoi mhíchumas.

Historically, to my mind, disability services have been underfunded in this country.

Significant progress has been made in recent years to increase the funding for disability services, and in this Budget we are making another important advance. Budget 2026 is a stepping stone to achieving improved services and independence for disabled people.

I am committed to the vision of the National Human Rights Strategy for Disabled People chosen by people with disabilities themselves – “equal voices, equal actions and equal futures”.

I know that Minister Naughton and my colleagues right across government are equally committed also.

In Budget 2026, the budget for specialist disability services for people with complex needs will be increased by 20 per cent to €3.9 billion (including capital). This includes services like residential care, respite care and adult day services.

This year, we are recruiting over 1,000 extra staff in the disability sector. Next year, with the support of Budget 2026, we will hire another 945 staff, bringing the disability workforce to almost 23,600 by the end of next year.

This includes 150 more staff for Children’s Disability Network Teams, who provide vital therapies for children.

There will also be funding to improve the financial stability of voluntary organisations working in the disability sector, who have faced rising costs.

I am committed to moving more people with disabilities under the age of 65 out of nursing homes, where approximately €10M in funding has been secured in Budget 2026 to support their transition to independent living in the community with, importantly, the necessary supports.

Early learning and childcare

Childcare fees have reduced substantially in recent years and low-income households in Ireland are now paying at or below the OECD average for early learning and childcare for the first time.

But costs for some parents remain much too high. In this Budget, we are taking steps to address that with the introduction of a new maximum fee cap to reduce costs for families paying the highest childcare bills.

I want to ensure that the maximum benefit can be provided for parents, so my officials will be analysing the latest financial returns from providers to see what is possible. I will provide further details in the coming months, with the new maximum fee caps set to take effect from next September. Providers with fees below this fee cap will maintain fees at 2021 levels.

While the number of children enrolled in early learning and childcare increased by 19% between 2022 and 2024, I know that we need to do more to increase the supply of early learning and childcare places with additional 35,000 children expected to benefit from the National Childcare Scheme next year. That is a further 14 per cent increase in the number of children on the scheme.

Core funding for providers which is currently at €392 million will rise to over €436 million for the first time in this Budget.

Wages for early years educators will increase from 13 October with ring-fenced Core Funding. I am committed to a new Employment Regulation Order process in the second half of 2026 and to making available a similar sum in 2026 for a further future round of pay improvements. This will help address issues of recruitment and retention in the sector, and help to unlock around 17,000 unused places which can’t be filled due to lack of staff.

In addition to current funding to support the continued delivery of supply and expansion of places, €36 million in capital funding is being made available in 2026 for the Early Learning and Childcare capital programmes. This funding will allow for the first steps in a new programme of acquisition and fit out of State-led early learning and childcare services to increase places to meet demand for affordable, accessible, high quality early learning and childcare that is not otherwise being delivered, including on full day provision particularly for younger children. Acquisitions in 2026 will result in approximately 700 new places.

The funding also allows for Building Blocks Extension Scheme projects approved in 2025 which have run over into 2026 to continue to be funded, delivering an additional 1,500 places.

A further Building Blocks scheme will open for applications in 2026, focusing on extensions and modifications to existing premises

All of this will form part of the new Action Plan on Early Learning and Childcare, due for publication in the coming weeks.

Child protection and wellbeing

Supporting our most vulnerable children is a key objective for me as minister.

Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, which has approximately 5,700 staff, is getting an additional €165 million to bring its budget to €1.336 billion.

I am pleased to say that €6m in new funding is being provided in Budget 2026 for innovative “earn and learn” social work and social care work apprenticeship courses programmes and sponsorship. This will increase the number of social workers and social care workers in Tusla to over 3,200.

Tusla also plans to invest €286m in expanding residential care, increasing the number of placements for children in need from 775 to over 800 next year.

I am allocating €3 million in this budget for the well-being check of 42,000 children whose cases were closed by Tusla during the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an important exercise to deliver assurances about the safety of these children. It will also contribute to the wider work of a cross-government group in my department looking at how a system of “check-ins” for children can be developed.

One of the very important safety nets in this country are our family resource centres. I am so appreciative of the work they do in their communities and I am very pleased to announce there is funding in Budget 2026 for a further 10 family resource centres, bringing the network to 136.

We are very fortunate in Ireland to have a committed group of around 4,000 foster carers who look after children on behalf of the state.

They are looking after over 85 per cent of children who are in state care and as minister, I want to ensure that we provide more supports for them.

In this Budget, there is additional funding for peer support projects where foster parents can share their knowledge and experience with each other.

There is also funding for more staff on the recruitment teams for foster carers to encourage more people to consider fostering.

There have been difficulties in recruiting enough staff to open our full complement of beds for extremely vulnerable children in special care. This Budget contains €26 million in funding to have the full 26 beds in operation, with new special care staff grades, staff wellbeing initiatives and special care therapeutic supports in 2026.

Conclusion

This is just a flavour of Budget 2026. It is a record budget for the Department of €7 billion and I believe it will help us to make a real meaningful difference to the lives of all the people we serve. Thank you.