John Gormley
Question:1043 Mr. Gormley asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his plans to increase funding for the Lios na nÓg crèche in Ranelagh, Dublin. [21538/04]
View answerWednesday, 29 September 2004
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Written answers
As the Deputy may be aware, this community based group was approved a staffing grant of €88,461, over three years, in September 2000. The Deputy should note that support towards staffing costs under the equal opportunities child care programme 2000-2006 is only made available to those projects which can demonstrate they are providing child care in areas of significant disadvantage and are supporting parents to access employment, education or training.
Subsequently, this community group was awarded a capital grant of €64,420 in July 2002. In November 2003, the group was awarded staffing continuation funding of €30,000 to cover the period up to the end of 2004. At that point, the programme appraisal committee was advised that the level of funding recommended was sufficient to provide the service being offered by the group and the level of disadvantage in the area. There are no plans at present to review the level of funding being made available to this particular group until the end of the current year.
As a large number of projects are now beginning to come to the end of their original funding cycle, the priorities of the staffing measure of the programme are being re-examined in light of the available resources. Staffing grant assistance was intended to offer support for a limited number of years to community based child care projects which focus on disadvantage during the period when their services developed and as they moved towards sustainability. Proposals in respect of ongoing staffing supports to groups whose original funding or continuation funding elapses shortly are currently being developed in my Department. In this context, it is expected that only those groups which clearly provide child care services for families with significant levels of disadvantage and where the parents are in employment, education or training will receive ongoing staffing supports under the equal opportunities child care programme 2000-2006.