Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 29 January 2013
376. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Social Protection the studies that have been carried out by her Department to ensure that a Scandinavian model of childcare is in place now that applicants for one parent family payments have a cut-off date once their youngest child reaches seven. [4454/13]
View answerThe number of one-parent family payment (OFP) recipients was 87,918 in December, 2012 at a cost of €1.06 billion. As part of the package of measures in Budget 2013 I announced, along with the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Frances Fitzgerald, a €14 million joint childcare initiative between our Departments. This initiative demonstrates my determination to progress this issue despite the difficult financial and budgetary situation. The new scheme will provide approximately 6,000 afterschool childcare places for eligible clients of my Department. It will be targeted to support those who engage in the activation process and who enter into employment. The places will be limited to low income families with children aged 4 to 12 years.
I believe that the availability of these childcare places is a very positive measure for lone parents. I secured the agreement for this scheme from Government, in conjunction with Minister Fitzgerald, to address the child care needs of lone parents as part of the reforms of the OFP scheme. In addition, I have postponed the commencement date of the reductions to the age of the youngest child for receipt of OFP from January 2013 to July 2013, to provide time for some of these additional after-school child care supports to be put in place. The new scheme will build on the existing supports provided by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs in the child care sector. My Department is working closely with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to fully define the scheme. I expect that the scheme will commence with a pilot and be rolled out on a phased basis.
