Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
1106 Mr. Perry asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the progress made on the application for a capital grant from persons (details supplied) in County Sligo; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22086/04]
View answerI understand from inquiries I have made that an application from the group for a substantial capital grant of €712,000 was submitted in April 2003 to provide a sessional child care service. The equal opportunities child care programme is a seven-year development programme which aims to increase the availability and quality of child care to support parents in employment, education and training. The progress of the programme was commented upon favourably by the mid-term evaluators of the regional operational programmes and the national development plan. Following the mid-term review, additional funding of approximately €12 million was made available for the child care measures, bringing the total funding available for the programme to €449.3 million.
There has been considerable demand from community-based groups for capital grant assistance under the programme. Every county has benefited significantly from grants to provide new and enhanced community-based child care facilities and to support capital developments in the private child care sector. ADM, on behalf of my Department, is conducting an extensive review of the programme's capital commitments to date, numbering over 1,100 and at a value of €114 million, to ensure that the grant commitments previously entered into will be realised. Projects may be awaiting planning permission or the completion of tender processes before reasonable assurance can be taken that they will proceed. If they do not proceed, the funding set aside can be decommitted and made available to another project. Expenditure under the programme, which covers the period to the end of 2007, must take place in a planned manner — that is also the case in respect of grant approvals — to ensure that the programme can meet its financial commitments at all times.
My Department recently reviewed the different budget lines under the equal opportunities programme, including the capital programme, to ensure that the most effective use is made of all remaining funding in accordance with the programme's objectives. That has brought the total allocation for the capital development of child care under the present programme to €157 million. An extensive review of child care provision on the ground has taken place to identify obvious service gaps, the filling of which will be a priority using the remaining capital funding which exceeds €30 million, of which about €25 million is earmarked for community-based, or not-for-profit, child care groups which provide services for young children to support their parents who may be in employment, education and training.
I intend to allocate the remaining capital funding under this strand of the Government's commitment to child care to address the most immediate service gaps. As a result, all the projects in the pipeline on 30 April 2004 have been reviewed again by ADM on the basis of geographical need, the range of services being offered, value for money and the capacity of the groups to complete a project before the end of the programme in 2007. The projects which best meet the criteria will receive priority funding from the capital funding which remains unallocated at this point.
Having made inquiries, I understand that the application for capital grant assistance in respect of the project in question has been reviewed as part of the review process to which I have referred. I understand that recommendations about the allocation of the remaining funding are in preparation. If a project is recommended for funding as part of this process, its recommendation will depend on being able to establish that it can be completed within a fixed budget and a tight timeframe. If a project is not recommended for priority funding at this time, it will be considered again if additional capital resources become available. The allocation of any additional funding which might become available to me will also be allocated on the basis of local need, levels of service being offered and value for money.
I do not doubt that the success of the present strand of the programme and the need to continue to make child care available to support the child care needs of our growing work force will support my case for ongoing capital and current funding from the Government for this key sector. Indeed, if additional funding becomes available before the end of the present national development plan, I expect that the programme will again benefit from transfers. In the interim, it would be premature of me to comment further on the relevant capital grant application.
