Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 February 2015
393. Deputy Terence Flanagan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his plans to provide assistance towards child care costs for working parents; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4734/15]
View answerI am aware of the relatively high cost of childcare in this country and to help address the issue my Department supports a number of childcare programmes that assist parents in accessing quality and affordable childcare. These programmes are, of course, in addition to the support provided to all parents in the form of the Children's Allowance, which is a key Government support to help families with ongoing costs.
These programmes include the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme which provides funding to community childcare services to enable them to provide quality childcare at reduced rates to disadvantaged and low income working parents. In the case of full day care, parents qualifying for the higher rate of subvention under the CCS programme can have up to €95 per week deducted from the overall charge for childcare in the participating childcare facility. Pro-rata reductions are made in respect of the other services provided.
The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal programme that provides for one free pre-school year for all eligible children in the year before commencing primary school. The programme represents an annual investment of approximately €175 million and parents availing of the provision have their annual childcare costs reduced by €2,375 for each eligible child.
A number of initiatives have been introduced under the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes to support parents who are endeavouring to enter or return to the workforce and who are participating in training or educational courses for this purpose. These include the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme which provides childcare places to qualifying Solas or Education and Training Boards trainees or students for the duration of their courses. This programme provides €145 per week towards the cost of a full day childcare with pro rata rates for parents who receive a reduced level of service.
The After-School Child Care (ASCC) programme was introduced under the TEC initiative and provides after-school care for primary school children for certain categories of working parents for a once-off period of 52 weeks. This programme provides €40 per week for after-school care, (or €80 per week where a pick up service is provided) and €105 per week for full day childcare during the holiday period. Pro-rata rate applies for parents who require support over a shorter weekly period. The Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme was also introduced and provides up to €80 a week to support qualifying parents who are participating in Community Employment schemes.
The above programmes represents an annual investment of approximately €260 million and despite the difficult budgetary situation in recent years this funding has been maintained. This Department will continue to fund these programme, with an emphasis on improving the quality of the service, and as funding becomes available I would hope that the capitation rates for all programmes could be increased to provide further support.
It is clear that accessibility, affordability and high quality childcare can play a critical role in achieving a number of Government priorities, including improving educational outcomes for children, reducing poverty and increasing parents' participation in the labour market. To ensure that all the benefits of childcare investments are fully realised, future public investment in childcare must be evidence-based and strategically coordinated. I am establishing a cross-Departmental group to look at the provision right across the 0 to 6 age group as well as to consider the after-school needs of older school-going children. It is crucial that we develop a coherent whole-of-Government approach to investment in childcare services.
This new group will include representatives of the Department of Education and Skills, the Department of Social Protection, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Department of Finance and the Department of the Taoiseach and will be led and supported by my Department. I will be asking that the work of this group be carried out within a relatively short time frame and I expect that the group will be in a position to report to me in the Summer.
