Under Circular 13/2014, the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform (DPER) outline the responsibilities for both Grantors (the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) in this case) and Grantees (Childcare Providers in this case) in relation to expenditure of public funds by way of disbursement of grant funding to all bodies, including agencies, companies, committees, advisory groups, charities, or individuals, whether directly from the Votes of Government Departments/Offices or through an intermediary body or series of bodies. The Department endeavours to comply insofar as possible, and is continuously seeking to improve practice in the childcare sector through constructive engagement.
The Grant Funding Agreement between the Department and childcare providers, which covers the various childcare programmes (ECCE, CCS, TEC), requires that Registered Childcare Providers shall separately account for public funds received and ensure that appropriate financial records are maintained to ensure compliance with the requirements of DPER Circular 13/2014.
The change this year, in terms of the financial requirements under the Grant Funding Agreement is that services will be required to provide copies of their annual accounts by default, to Pobal. The Grant Funding Agreement has always required services to keep up-to-date accounts, separately recording public monies, and to make these available on request to the Department or its agent(s).