Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 16 May 2001

Vol. 536 No. 3

Written Answers - Grant Payments.

John Bruton

Question:

219 Mr. J. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason there is an upper limit of £40,000 on the amount of capital grant that can be made towards a child care centre, in view of the fact that some child care centres may be particularly big and this grant may be insufficient; and if he will make provision to have capital grants for child care centres operated on the basis of a proportion of the number of places to be provided rather than under a ceiling. [14206/01]

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

I assume the Deputy is referring to self-employed/private providers of child care and not community based/not for profit groups. It is open to self-employed/private providers to apply for a capital grant under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, 2000-2006, which is operated by my Department. A sum of £344 million comprising EU and Exchequer funding has been allocated to my Department over the course of the National Development Plan, 2000-2006, to improve child care provision and quality throughout the country. The objectives of this funding are to increase the availability of child care places, to improve the quality of child care provision and to ensure the co-ordination of child care service provision on a local and national basis. The funding has an equal opportunities and social inclusion perspective and focuses on provision of child care to allow parents, particularly women, to avail of training, education or employment.

The capital grants currently available under the equal opportunities child care programme were developed in line with the recommendations of the expert working group on child care estab lished under Partnership 2000. Under the programme, capital grants of up to £40,000 were made available in April 2000 for the first time for self-employed/private child care providers for building, renovation or upgrading of child care facilities and for the purchase of permanently based child care equipment. Budget 2000 also provided improvements to the capital allowances in relation to the costs of construction, refurbishment or extension of premises. I would like to assure the Deputy that the scheme is kept under constant review.

Since the announcement of the availability of grants in April 2000, over £40 million in funding has been committed by my Department under the equal opportunities child care programme in the form of capital and staffing grants alone to child care services on the ground. To date, over 14,000 child care places will be supported by the funding committed by my Department which will include the creation of almost 6000 new child care places. The measures in place reaffirm this Government's commitment to keeping child care at the forefront of its social agenda.