Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 January 2016
531. Deputy Éamon Ó Cuív asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the schemes in place to fund family centres and preschool and afterschool services in disadvantaged communities; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1025/16]
View answerIn relation to family centres, Tusla, the Child and Family Agency, provides services and support to local communities through its Family and Community Services Resource Centre (FRC) Programme. Tusla provides core funding to its established network of 107 Family Support Centres nationwide, and two outreach Centres.
The FRC programme is Ireland’s largest family support programme delivering universal services to families in disadvantaged areas across the country based on a life-cycle approach. The aim of the FRC programme is to combat disadvantage and improve the functioning of the family unit. Each FRC operates autonomously working inclusively with individuals, families, communities, and both statutory and non-statutory agencies. The programme emphasises involving local communities in tackling the problems they face, and creating successful partnerships between voluntary and statutory agencies at community level.
Tusla allocated €13.09m in 2015 to support these Centres around the country, and will continue to fund this programme in 2016.
In relation to pre-school and after school services, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme provides funding to community childcare services to enable them to provide quality childcare, including after-school care, at reduced rates to disadvantaged and low income working parents. While these community services are generally located in disadvantaged areas, all parents that satisfy the eligibility criteria and who are enrolled in a participating community service are eligible to apply for subvention support.
In addition to the CCS programme there are a range of programmes implemented by my Department to assist qualifying parents to access quality and affordable after-school childcare. These include:
- The After-School Childcare (ASCC) programme that provides after-school care for primary school children of eligible parents for a period of 52 weeks. Eligibility for the programme is determined by the Department of Social Protection.
- The Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme, which is targeted specifically at participants in the Community Employment (CE) schemes operated by the Department of Social Protection. Eligibility for the CEC programme is determined by the Department of Social Protection.
- The Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme, which provides childcare places, including part-time and after-school places, to qualifying Solas or Education and Training Boards (ETB) trainees or students for the duration of their courses. Eligibility for the CETS programme is determined by the Department of Education and Skills.
- The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a free and universal programme to which all children have access. The objective of the programme is to make early learning in a formal setting available to eligible children before they commence primary school.
The total funding provided by my Department to support these programmes in 2016 is €345 million, an increase of €85 million from 2015.
