Vol. 553 No. 5
356 Mr. Haughey asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a grant payment will be made under the equal opportunities child care programme to a pre-school (detail supplied) in Dublin 5; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14662/02]
As the Deputy is aware, my Department has been given overall responsibility for the co-ordination of child care service delivery over the course of the National Development Plan, 2000-2006. The equal opportunities child care programme, which was established in April 2000, has been developed with the objective of significantly increasing the number of child care places and improving the quality of child care services over the period.
I have been informed by officials from the child care directorate of my Department that an application was made, on behalf of the pre-school in question, in August 2001 for a grant towards the staffing costs of the facility. It should be noted that the primary focus of the scheme of support for staffing costs is to assist projects which are located in areas of significant disadvantage or to support child care services which have a particular focus on disadvantage.
The application in question was refused by my predecessor because it did not demonstrate a sufficient focus on disadvantage and because the projected income from fees charged for the service, excluding the amount sought as a staffing grant, was sufficient for the project to ensure its continued operation over the period concerned. An appeal of this decision was subsequently lodged by the service. This appeal was refused on the same grounds as the original application. A letter informing the pre-school of the decision was issued by the child care directorate in March 2002.
Question No. 357 answered with Question No. 338.
