Fingal County Childcare Committee

15/10/2026

15/10/2026

Next week is National Childminding Week!

From 19 to 23 October, we are celebrating the incredible childminders across Ireland.
To mark the week, there are several FREE webinars packed with ideas, inspiration and practical support.

Feel free to contact your local City/County Childcare Committee’s Childminding Development Officer for more information: https://www.gov.ie/en/department-of-children-disability-and-equality/campaigns/city-and-county-childcare-committees/

Register for any session at: https://www.betterstart.ie/training-events/
Learn more about the week at: https://www.letstalkchildminding.ie/

14/10/2026

FCCC is thrilled to invite you to an in-person training session at Blanchardstown Library titled:

Outdoor Play: Enhancing Children’s Lives
Location: Blanchardstown Library, Dublin 15, Dublin
Date: Friday, November 6
Time: 10 AM - 1 PM 3
Register via Eventbrite

Join us to explore how outdoor play can significantly improve children's learning, development, and wellbeing. This session is perfect for professionals working in Early Learning and Care (ELC) and School Age Childcare (SAC) services and Childminders.

Hosted by: Fingal County Childcare Committee
Facilitated by: Barnardos
All Fingal ELC and SAC services, as well as childminders, are warmly invited. This workshop can be included in your Quality Improvement Plan and Professional Development (QIPP).

Workshop Overview:
This session will showcase the numerous benefits of outdoor play and underscore the importance of creating outdoor environments for children. Through a collaborative approach, we aim to raise awareness about providing children with opportunities to explore and thrive creatively, ultimately enhancing their overall wellbeing in outdoor settings.

14/10/2026

Hive annoucement: 14/10/2026
NCS, ECCE & CCSP Saver Programme October mid-term maintenance

Dear Service Provider,

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

13/10/2026

Hive Announcement 12.10.2026
NCS refresher training invite 21 and 22 October 2026

Dear Service Provider,

You are invited to attend an NCS Refresher Training. The sessions will be held on 21 and 22 October 2026.

In this training session we will cover the following:

Introduction to the National Childcare Scheme (NCS)
NCS 2026: Updates & Changes
NCS Claims
Returns & Payments
Attendance: Records & Rules
Sponsor Referrals
NCS Service Calendars
Change of Circumstance
Reviews & Appeals
Resources


Training Webinar Registration Links:

NCS Refresher Session 1: 21 October, 2:30 pm
NCS Refresher Session 2: 22 October, 10:30 am
NCS Refresher Session 3: 22 October, 6 :30 pm

***Links to above training can be found under Hive Announcements on the Hive

We kindly ask that questions asked on the day are kept to the topic being covered.

Regards,
The Early Years Team


Please Note:

⚠️ The use of AI-based note-taking or recording tools is not permitted. This helps ensure we remain compliant with GDPR and uphold data privacy standards. Pobal is solely responsible for the distribution of any training materials and can share these through appropriate channels. Unauthorised use of AI tools may result in removal from the session, a request for access to generated content, and its deletion.

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13/10/2026

Next week, the RSA’s Check it Fits service will be visiting County Dublin. Did you know it’s the law that all children under 150cms or 36kgs must use a child car seat appropriate to their weight and height. In Ireland as many as 54% of child car seats are incorrectly fitted which can lead to serious injury or even death in a collision. Since the start of the service, the RSA’s ‘Check it Fits’ Service has checked over 70,000 child car seats and restraints in Ireland.

The Check it Fits service is quick, it’s easy, it’s free. On the day our experts will advise on how to fix any problem, demonstrate how to fit the restraint correctly and answer any queries participants might have. Our experts aim to put parent’s, grandparent’s and guardian’s minds at ease that their child’s car seat is safely and securely fitted in their car.

13/10/2026

Hive Announcement 13.10.2026

Distribution of Book Pack to Equal Start services

Dear Service Provider,

Please see the below communication for Equal Start priority and transitional services on behalf of the Department of Children, Disability and Equality (DCDE).

Regards,
The Early Years Team

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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 [email protected] to let us know.



Kind regards,

The Equal Start Team