My Department commissioned the Central Statistics Office to review child care usage among parents as an element of the quarterly national household survey in late 2002 and found that Irish parents with pre-school and school-going children continue to use a variety of arrangements to meet their child care needs. These include parental provision, arrangements paid or unpaid with relatives, the services of childminders and centre based child care. The parents did not express an overwhelming preference for a particular alternative to their present arrangements although the most popular alternative chosen was a centre based service both for the pre-school and the primary school child, and this sector of child care is the focus of much of the investment under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006.
Child care was identified as an investment priority under the National Development Plan 2000-2006 which enabled the Government make a significant commitment to the development of quality child care in Ireland. This was a direct response to the recommendations of the expert working group on child care which was established under Partnership 2000 to develop a strategy for the development and delivery of child care to support parents in employment, education and training.
Key among these recommendations was the designation of my Department as the lead Department with respect to the development of child care to meet the needs of parents in employment, education and training. These recommendations formed the basis of the €436.7 million Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 which is aiming, inter alia, to increase by 50% the supply of centre based child care places by programme end. The programme also has a focus on many of the quality issues which were identified in the child care strategy and aims to ensure that there is a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of child care services throughout the country. The programme is partly funded by the European Social Fund which aims, inter alia, to increase prosperity throughout the European Union by encouraging full employment and female labour force participation.
In the context of the mid-term review of the national development plan, the EOCP has recently received a further small injection of European social funding specifically because of its capacity to support employment, education and training in the Irish work force.
Since June 2002, approximately €110 million has been committed in funding, of which over €89 million has been allocated in capital and staffing grants to child care providers and community groups and €21 million to quality improvement. It is estimated that the funding committed in this period will create 13,032 new child care places and will also support over 8,500 existing places.
The total amount of funding committed since the start of the programme in 2000 exceeds €250 million with much of the remaining funding being required for continuation funding for projects located in areas of significant disadvantage and for the ongoing support of projects and mechanisms which promote quality child care. This amount will create 28,392 new child care places and will support over 26,642 existing child care places. These new places are offering new child care options to parents throughout Ireland as they meet their work and family needs.
The Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 has an equal opportunities and social inclusion perspective and facilitates the further development and expansion of child care facilities to address the needs of parents, particularly women, in reconciling their child care needs with their participation in employment, training and education. The programme provides capital grant assistance to create and enhance new and existing child care facilities, staffing grant assistance to community based not-for-profit organisations whose child care services have a strong focus on the support of the child care needs of disadvantaged families and it also offers supports to the national voluntary child care organisations, to the city-county child care committees and to other groups which are working to improve the quality of child care in Ireland.
In addition, my colleague, the Minister for Finance makes available a number of incentives in relation to child care, such as capital allowances for capital expenditure incurred on or after 2 December 1998, on the construction, extension and refurbishment of a building which is used for the purpose of providing a pre-school service or a pre-school service and day care or other service to cater for children other than pre-school children.
With regard to the Deputy's comments on the measures been taken to ensure that affordable child care is available to all families, I would like to draw the Deputy's attention to one of a series of recommendations of the expert working group in relation to the so-called demand side of child care. Government policy in the area of child support aims to provide assistance which will offer real choice to parents and which will benefit all children. In that context, it has been decided that, as a matter of policy, child benefit will be the main fiscal instrument through which support will be provided to parents with dependent children. In addition, unlike tax relief, it provides support to parents irrespective of income status.
Over the period since 1997, the monthly rates of child benefit have increased by €93.51 at the lower rate and €115.78 at the higher rate, increases of 246% and 234% respectively, compared with inflation of 26.9%. This level of increase is unprecedented and delivers on the Government's objective of providing support for children generally while offering real choice to all parents. Child benefit is paid to mothers and is not means-tested.
I should also point out that Government policy in relation to the position of women generally is guided by the provisions of the EU treaties in relation to non-discrimination and equality of opportunity. Furthermore, the Government is committed to facilitating women who wish to avail of education and employment opportunities while allowing them at the same time to reconcile work and family commitments. To this end, legislative provision has been made for maternity leave, adoptive leave, parental leave, carer's leave and part-time work. In addition, a national framework committee on work-life balance at the level of the enterprise has been established under Sustaining Progress.
The booming Irish economy of the latter part of the 1990s facilitated a rapid change in female labour market behaviour. As a result the proportion of mothers in employment has doubled over the last 15 years. To put these changes in context, in 2003 female labour market participants numbered 701,000 — 511,000 in full-time and 190,000 in part-time employment. This compares to 1995 when 483,000 — 372,000 in full-time and 111,000 in part time employment — were in employment. By any standard this represents a considerable increase over the period.
While the resources available to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 do not permit the programme to meet the full staffing costs of any child care services the programme does make a significant contribution towards the staffing costs of facilities in areas of disadvantage. These three year grants are intended to support disadvantaged families to access valuable employment, educational or training opportunities.
The programme for Government and the progress of my Department's Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing and reviewing child care services and to keeping child care at the forefront of its social agenda. The outcomes of the present programme will be monitored closely to inform the forward planning process in order to support the twin needs of quality child care provision and labour market supports.
