Significant investment is being provided this year by my Department for the two child care schemes that are currently operating, namely the community child care scheme and the childhood education and training support, CETS, scheme. My Department also administers the free preschool year scheme. The annual investment in the latter scheme provides a financial benefit to the parents of participating children of approximately €2,500 to €3,000. Obviously the scheme is part-time, but it is of major benefit to both parents and children, particularly in the context of the high-quality inputs available and the levels of supervision and support provided by the scheme.
The community child care subvention programme benefits approximately 25,000 children annually. It is available to parents who have relatively average incomes on the basis of their entitlement to hold a GP visit card. The level of support is determined by the income status or social welfare entitlement of the parent qualifying for support, and parents who qualify for the highest rate of support can have the weekly charge reduced by up to €95 for each child, which is significant.
The CETS programme targets funding to support parents returning to education and training and benefits approximately 2,500 children. The scheme is worth approximately €145 per week for each child. In addition, a maximum of 1,800 new part-time child care places are being introduced this year under the CETS programme to Community Employment scheme participants. Finally, a maximum of 600 places are available under the school age child care programme. A significant range of supports are in place already, but clearly, fully addressing the broader issue of the affordability and accessibility of child care would require significant extra investment as we strive to make more places available at an affordable rate.