Written Answers. - Child Care Provision.
Bernard J. Durkan
Question:
701
Mr. Durkan
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the position regarding waiting lists for assessment of applications for pre-school/Montessori school or similar type development grants; if his attention has been drawn to the delays in processing these applications; if his attention has further been drawn to the likely cost of overruns as a result of these delays; his plans to speed up the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
[26583/01]
As the Deputy is aware, my Department has responsibility for leading the development of child care service delivery in Ireland. 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. This represents the most significant investment in child care by any Government in the history of the State. The funding, which has a focus on equal opportunities and social inclusion, is being promoted as the equal opportunities child care programme, 2000-06 and is targeted at services which offer day care facilities and services for pre-school children and school going children out of school hours.
Since the announcement of the availability of funding in April 2000, I have committed funding in excess of £59 million to child care projects on the ground, both in the community and private sector. Up to the end of October, over 23,500 child care places will be supported by this funding which will ensure both the continuation of existing places and the creation of over 10,400 new child care places. In addition, the funding will enable many of the services to extend their hours of operation and enhance the quality of service provided. The measures in place reaffirm this Government's commitment to keeping child care at the forefront of its social agenda. In addition, I have approved funding of over £10.3 million for quality improvement projects such as local child care networks, innovative projects, local child care training models, the child minders initiative and supports for the national voluntary child care organisations. Funding of almost £1.9 million has also been allocated to local partnerships. This brings the total amount allocated to date under the equal opportunities child care programme to over £71.3 million.
The general guidelines indicate that applications are processed in quarterly cycles and the majority of applications would receive a decision in this timeframe. Obviously this will depend on the details supplied by each applicant at the time of submitting the application. The more comprehensive the application, the less requirement for additional information during the assessment process. There will be no undue delay in processing applications under my Department's equal opportunities child care programme and if he has any specific case in mind I will be happy to provide him with a specific response on the timing of dealing with that specific application.
For the Deputy's information, I will outline the procedure involved in processing an application received under the equal opportunities child care programme. Once an application is logged, and an acknowledgement letter is issued from my Department, the application is forwarded to Area Development Management Limited, which acts on behalf of my Department in appraising and assessing each application.
During this consultation process the details of the project, including the costings of the work, are confirmed by ADM Limited, with the applicant. Required site visits will also take place, particularly with large capital projects or applications under the staffing grants scheme. Large capital projects are also appraised by an external specialist. Appraisals are subject to quality assurance procedures. Once the appraisal process is complete, the assessment is submitted to the programme appraisal committee which in turn makes a recommendation to me for a final decision. Successful applicants are then required to enter into a contract, on my Department's behalf, with ADM Limited. Any outstanding issues will be discussed with the applicants at contract stage.
As the Deputy will appreciate, when committing public moneys to projects it is incumbent on my Department's equal opportunities child care section to take every reasonable step to ensure that applications for funding comply with the relevant rules and regulations, such as EU regulations on grant aid under the Structural Funds, and that the recommendations made to me have been properly evaluated under the criteria of the grant schemes.
