Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 October 2004
170 Mr. Connaughton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when an EOCP staff continuation funding grant will be awarded to a group (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24765/04]
View answerAs the Deputy may be aware, this community based group was approved a staffing grant of €92,329, over three years, in February 2001. The Deputy should note that support towards staffing costs under the Equal Opportunities Childcare 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.
I recently awarded staffing continuation funding of €10,260 to the group to cover the period up to end 2004. At that point, the programme appraisal committee was advised that, subject to the group entering into appropriate contractual arrangements with ADM Limited, the level of funding recommended was sufficient to provide the service being offered by the group and the level of disadvantage in the area.
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 regarding 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 Childcare Programme 2000 — 2006.
