Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 20 Feb 2001

Vol. 530 No. 6

Written Answers. - Child Care Facilities.

Jack Wall

Question:

378 Mr. Wall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the funding available for the provision of crèches, playschools from his Department, where such funding is been sought by a local authority residents association for the provision of such services in their estate; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4924/01]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. O'Donoghue)

As the Deputy may be aware, my Department has responsibility for the child care measure under the Regional Operational Programme of the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, which provides £250 million to invest in the development of child care service provision. The objectives of the programme are to increase the number of child care facilities, increase the number of child care places and improve the quality of child care services in Ireland. The funding measures include the following initiatives: capital grants for community groups and not-for-profit organisations for the establishment, renovation or upgrading of child care facilities; staffing grants to support staffing costs for community based child care facilities; capital grants for self-employed child care providers catering for not more than 20 children at any one time, to build, renovate or upgrade child care facilities.

In addition, the Government decided to allocate a further £40 million over and above the £250 million allocation in the national development plan, to the development of child care. On 18 October 2000, I announced details of the Government's £40 million package which includes grant schemes towards the use of spare school classrooms for child care, the introduction of a national after-school child care programme and the first ever national initiative to help child minders.

The proposals announced will address certain gaps in existing schemes and extend support to new areas of the child care sector and have been developed following an extensive round of consultations with the social partners.

The funding measures are as follows: £9 million will be provided for capital grants for commercial providers of more than 20 child care places to allow providers to establish or improve child care facilities; £5 million to provide grants for community-based child care facilities which do not qualify for existing grants schemes; and £1 million for improved staffing grants for community-based projects. This will allow staffing grants of up to £80,000 to be allocated to these projects; £6.5 million for a national child minders initiative. This is the first national initiative targeted specifically at child minders and will involve start-up grants, information campaigns and other supports; £5 million for the provision of child care in local authority developments; and £5 million for improving quality through training and research. This will help ensure that people working in child care can progress in their careers and that the highest standards are achieved in child care.

In terms of the funding available to local authority residents associations for the provision of crèches or pre-schools, resident associations could be eligible for capital or staffing support for community based not-for-profit groups under my Department's Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, 2000-2006. Applications for funding under these measures can be made by submitting the relevant application form to my Department's equal opportunities child care section. Application forms can be requested by contacting a dedicated lo-call line for such inquiries at 1890-20-90-30.

Applications for funding will be assessed initially, on behalf of the Department, by Area Development Management Limited followed by an assessment by the programme appraisal committee chaired by my Department. The assessment criteria for these measures include the extent to which the project will increase the number of child care places in disadvantaged areas, the quality and financial sustainability of the proposal as well as the capacity of the service provider to implement the project.

Under the anti-inflationary package outlined above, local authorities will be allocated funding to address the issue of child care in new and existing local authority developments. I understand local authorities have been asked to assess the need for child care facilities in their area and to submit proposals to the Department of the Environment and Local Government within the coming weeks for funding in 2001. It should be noted that capital projects under the current programme, Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, 2000-2006, have one year in which to start and three years in which to complete a project. Within that period the start dates are at the discretion of the applicants.