Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 January 2018
561. Deputy Aindrias Moynihan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the demand for places under the early childhood care and education scheme in County Cork; the way in which deficits are being made up in local areas; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4492/18]
View answerThere are currently 2,359 children availing of the Early Childhood Care and Education scheme (ECCE) in services in Cork City and a further 10,419 children at services in Cork County.
Having conducted an analysis of ECCE capacity my Department is confident that there will be no shortfall in places for the 2017-2018 programme year. ECCE providers have catered for over 108,000 children for this programme year and while pressures can arise in some immediate localities all eligible children have been catered for. My Department works closely with the local County Childcare Committees and are not aware of any shortage of places in Cork City or County.
From September 2018, the ECCE Programme will revert to one single entry point in a given ECCE Programme Year (i.e. September) with eligible children entitled to two full years of ECCE provision. Also from that date the number of ECCE enrolments in going forward is estimated to be in the region of 114,000. Given that 120,000 places were filled in April 2017, it is highly unlikely there will be capacity issues for those expected to register for ECCE, for up to 2 years, from September 2018.
My Department provided €8.4million for the 2017 Early Years Capital funding programme and some of this funding was directed towards assisting in alleviating pressures with regard to availability of ECCE places. This represents a doubling of the €4m provided under the 2016 Early Years Capital.
