Early Childhood Care and Education Data

Wednesday, 28 February 2018

Questions (206)

Joan Burton

Question:

206. Deputy Joan Burton asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of crèches in the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme, by county; if her attention has been drawn to the number of crèches by county that refused to join the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10331/18]

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Written answers

Minister for Children and Youth Affairs

Below are the services with contracts issued under Early Childhood Care and Education scheme (ECCE) in 2017/18 listed by county:

County	Services in Contact
Carlow	50
Cavan	60
Clare	130
Cork	442
Donegal	141
Dublin	1111
Galway	252
Kerry	126
Kildare	194
Kilkenny	95
Laois	77
Leitrim	29
Limerick	173
Longford	33
Louth	112
Mayo	120
Meath	198
Monaghan	57
Offaly	72
Roscommon	54
Sligo	65
Tipperary	157
Waterford	90
Westmeath	77
Wexford	134
Wicklow	162
Grand Total	4211

The total number of service providers that have signed up to deliver the ECCE scheme is 4211. There is no obligation on service providers to join the scheme and my Department does not record statistics on the services that decide not to join. It should also be noted that some services may not be eligible to provide ECCE, (eg. an afterschool only service) while other services may opt to provide one of the other childcare subvention schemes only.

I would advise any service provider with queries about the ECCE scheme to contact their local City and County Childcare Committee for further information.