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Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 8 Nov 2000

Vol. 525 No. 3

Written Answers. - Child Care Places.

Noel Ahern

Question:

398 Mr. N. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if there is any regulation or compulsion on employers generally or employers who recruit large numbers of women to provide child care places on site for their employees; if any of our EU partners have such regulations; if he will introduce a mandatory regulation here; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25239/00]

There is no regulation or compulsion, within this jurisdiction, on employers either generally or those who recruit large numbers of women to provide child care places on site for their employees. I am not aware either of any such regulation in other member states.

However, all EU member states including Ireland have underwritten in their national employment action plans to support employees in reconciling work and family life. In the case of Ireland, this involves interventions at many levels including State support for child care provision, statutory leave entitlements such as maternity, parental and adoptive leave and the provision by employers of family-friendly work arrangements for both women and men.

A number of developments have taken place here in the relation to the provision of child care places in the past two years. Child care was highlighted as a priority area for investment under the national development plan 2000-2006 with £250 million being allocated to my Department to support the provision of child care places over the life of the national development plan. In addition to the £250 million, I recently announced details of the Government's extra £40 million anti-inflationary package for child care.
In April of this year, I announced the availability of capital and staffing grants. Capital grants are available for community groups/not-for-profit organisations and self-employed child care providers while staffing grants are available for community groups-not-for-profit organisations. To date, I have allocated approximately £14 million to 166 child care facilities which will support the provision of almost 5,300 child care places, including over 2,200 new child care places.
While there are no plans to introduce a requirement on employers such as that indicated in the Deputy's question, the Government has, however, provided incentives to encourage employers to take a role in the provision of child care for their employees.
Budget 1999 provided for the exemption from tax of any benefit-in-kind arising from the provision of free or subsidised child care by employers or groups of employers for their employees. To qualify for this exemption, the employer must either make a premises available, or if a joint scheme, be involved in both the management and financing of the child care facility. However, this exemption does not apply if the employer simply pays or subsidises an employee's child care costs for an independent crèche or nursery.
Another benefit to the employer in terms of tax relief is the capital allowance in respect of expenditure incurred on the construction, refurbishment or extension of a child care facility. This was introduced in budget 1999. Up to then, capital allowances were only available for the cost of furniture, fittings or equipment used in child care facility.
Budget 2000 provided improvements in the capital allowance introduced in the previous budget. The new provisions mean that accelerated capital allowances can be availed of so that the costs incurred can be written off for tax purposes at the rate of 100% in the first year or, if preferred, spread out over seven years. To qualify for either tax relief, the child care service must be compliant with the Child Care (Pre-school Services) Regulations, 1996.
In June this year, I launched a report commissioned by the equality authority with funding sourced under the Government's equal opportunities child care programme. This report, Investing in People – Family Friendly work arrangements in small and medium sized enterprises, sought to identify the range of family-friendly work arrangements already in place by small and medium-sized enterprises, examine the practicality of these arrangements and make recommendations for implementing family-friendly arrangements more widely in the small and medium-sized enterprise sector.
Another publication, Quality Childcare in the Workplace, by Barnardos was launched by me in June. This guide for employers, which was also funded under the Government's equal opportunities child care programme based in my Department, aimed to provide employers with information to assist them in introducing practical child-friendly measures to support parents in reconciling work and family life.
Funding of £23.2 million is also being made available under the regional operational programmes of the national development plan 2000-2006 for positive actions for women. Approximately £4 million of this funding will be allocated to a project on family-friendly arrangements in employment. This funding has been allocated to my Department and will be used to support the work of the national framework committee for the development of family friendly policies which was set up under the Programme for Prosperity and Fairness. This committee is supported by a secretariat provided by the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment with additional support, where appropriate, from my Department.
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