Let me set the record straight in terms of my Department's capital allocation for child care to which the Deputy refers as there appears to be misinformation in the public domain.
My Department's total allocation for child care for 2001 is £69.716 million, of which £25.870 million relates to capital expenditure. The remaining £43.846 million is allocated to current expenditure such as staffing grants for community based/not-for-profit groups and quality improvement projects such as training programmes and supports for the national voluntary child care organisations.
My Department has been allocated £250 million for child care, both capital and current, under the National Development Plan, 2000 to 2006. This allocation has been supplemented by an Exchequer investment of £94 million, giving a total of £344 million to be expended by my Department to end 2006. This represents the most significant investment in child care by any Government in the history of the State. There has been no reduction in the overall allocation for child care over the period of the national development plan. However, in the initial stage of the equal opportunities child care programme, there has been a reprofiling of the expenditure due to the start-up nature of the programme in 2000 and 2001. It is expected that expenditure on the programme will rise significantly from 2002 as work on approved capital projects progresses.
To date, we have committed capital funding to 227 child care providers, both in the community and private sector, totalling just over £13 million, of which almost £1.75 million had been drawn down up to 30 March 2001. In accordance with Government financial procedures, funding for capital projects is only released as work progresses and completed. This capital funding will support almost 7,000 child care places, including the establishment of over 3,700 new child care places. In recent days, we announced the latest round of funding of which just over £1.5 million was allocated in capital funding.
The difference between the amounts committed and the amounts paid out to date reflects the fact that payments are made in stages as work progresses. In many cases it has been found that building contractors are unable to commence work on capital projects as soon as had been expected due to other work commitments, thus delaying the commencement of projects and the draw down of funds.
As the Deputy may be aware, the funding schemes were launched at the end of April 2000 and the first allocation of funding under the equal opportunities child care programme, 2000 to 2006, was released until mid-July 2000. This start date was due to the fact that funding could not be allocated until the operational programmes and the Community Support Framework was agreed between Ireland and the European Union.
The capital allocation for child care for 2001 according to the abridged Estimates volume published late last year was £35.870 million. This was revised for the current year in the revised Estimates volume to £25.870 million. It must be stressed that the revised figure is our best estimate of what we can spend in 2001 of the overall allocation, which remains intact. However, we can only allocate funds as applications are received and, as outlined above, payments are made in stages which reflect the progress of capital work.
I again reassure the Deputy of the Government's continued commitment to the advance ment of child care service delivery and that the overall allocation for childcare remains intact.