Dáil Éireann Debate, Friday - 16 September 2016
1940. Deputy Sean Sherlock asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if there has been any engagement by her Department with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation on the provision of child care facilities and support to entrepreneurs intending to start up businesses; and the potential cost to the Exchequer of such support. [26232/16]
View answerMy Department has had engagements with the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation as part of the Interdepartmental Group of Future Investment in Childcare, and will continue to engage with them.
My Department currently administers four targeted childcare programmes to support low income families. These programmes are, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Programme, the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) Programme, the After-School Childcare (ASC) Programme and the Community Employment Childcare (CEC) Programme. Of relevance to entrepreneurs may be the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Programme. The Back to Work Enterprise Allowance (BTWEA) qualifies under CCS. The BTWEA is administered by the Department of Social Protection, and is for those in receipt of certain social welfare payments who would like to become self employed. Further details can be found on the Department of Social Protection's website.
The CCS Programme provides funding to community/not-for-profit and private childcare services to enable them to charge reduced childcare fees to disadvantaged and low income families. Depending on whether a parent is in receipt of a social welfare payment, or holds a valid medical/GP Visit Card, they will benefit from a weekly fee reduction of between €50 and €95 for a full-time childcare place, between €25 and €47.50 for a part-time childcare place, and between €17 and €31.35 for a sessional (not more than 3 hours and 30 minutes) childcare place.
The current targeted childcare programmes are very complex administratively and have a wide variation in terms of the budget allocation, the access and eligibility criteria applied, the rates and maximum duration of childcare subsidisation and coverage (in terms of the type and number of childcare services participating in the programmes). In addition, by stipulating a maximum parental contribution, some programmes apply a price cap for childcare while others do not. The recent Report of the Inter-Departmental Group on Future Investment in Childcare considered these targeted childcare programmes as part of their work and made recommendations for reform. Essentially, it was recommended that all targeted childcare programmes be merged into one single targeted childcare programme with eligibility for a childcare subsidy under the new programme being determined by income only. This recommendation of the Inter-Departmental Group was considered by Government during the Estimates process for Budget 2016 and funding to convene a Design Team to develop a single affordable childcare programme was allocated.
Work on the Affordable Childcare Scheme has begun and it is expected to be in place by September 2017. This single scheme will provide a new simplified subsidy programme, available through both community/not-for-profit and private childcare providers. The programme will also provide a robust platform for future investment with a view to ensuring that childcare is more affordable for more families.
My Department is not in a position to calculate the costs, as requested by the Deputy, as these would be dependent on the nature of the measures and the eligibility criteria.
