Hard-pressed parents could be asked to hold fundraising cake sales or to make"voluntary" contributions to help pay for places offered under the government's much-vaunted one year "free" pre-school scheme, the Sunday Tribune has learned.

In a revelation that is likely to prompt renewed concerns about how the scheme will work in practice, a significant number of privately operated pre-schools are also considering asking parents to pay for "additional extras" such as the visit of Santa Claus at Christmas, school sports days or birthday parties.

These would often have been included in the overall price but could now be separated out as a way of raising additional money for the services in question, according to the 2,500 member Irish Preschool Playgroups Association (IPPA).

It says around three in 10 of its members, who will receive around €2,400 each to provide between two and three hours childcare per day, are facing severe financial difficulties as a result of the proposed payment scheme.

Under rules approved by the minister for children Barry Andrews recently, any participating provider can charge for "optional" additional services they provide, as long as they offer an appropriate alternative activity to children who do not avail of these services

However, this also raises the prospect that children whose parents cannot, for example, afford to pay to have Santa entertain their children would have to sit in another room while he visits their preschool

Examples of the other types of extras which services might now charge for separately include dance classes, "jamborees" and sports days, the IPPA says.

Similarly, while Andrews has ruled out allowing services to charge obligatory "top-up" fees for services, a spokeswoman said "voluntary donations" were not automatically ruled out.

"If a parent wishes to make a donation to a service, this is acceptable. For example a service could inform parents who wish to make a donation that direct debit forms are available," she said. "However, enrolment must not be dependent on making a donation and any donation must be clearly optional to parents."

IPPA chief executive Irene Gunning stressed that 70% of her members were happy with the proposed funding scheme, and said the decision to introduce the scheme was a "hugely positive" recognition of the sector.

However, she said that around three in 10 believe they will struggle financially under the scheme and may have no choice but to charge for "additional extras".

Alternatively parents could be asked to undertake fund­raising events such as cake sales, something which has been a much-criticised feature of primary and secondary level education. It is thought that this would be the first time, however, that parents might be asked to fundraise for privately operated pre-schools.