Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 5 December 2018
287. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the playschool application by a school (details supplied) will be reviewed for support; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [51175/18]
View answerThe results of the Early Years and School Age Capital programmes were announced in June 2018. Following this, unsuccessful applicants were invited to seek feedback on their applications from Pobal, who administer the Capital grants on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, and, if they remained unsatisfied, to seek a review of their application.
The review process concluded in October 2018, at which time applicants were notified of the outcome of their application(s) in writing. Unfortunately, the outcome of the review process for the service you mention was to uphold the original appraisal decision and, therefore, no offer of funding was made.
The 2018 Early Years and School Age Capital programmes have now concluded and their budget has been allocated in full.
However, an announcement is due to be made on the shape and priorities of the 2019 programmes in the coming weeks. I would invite all childcare providers, including the service you mention, to consider submitting an application for funding in the new year, should they be in a position to meet the programme criteria.
If the service in question is experiencing sustainability issues, I would further recommend that they make contact with both their local CCC and Pobal, to outline their situation. Pobal have a dedicated team that assess services facing crisis situations and, depending on the nature of the case in question, they may be in a position to provide or recommend appropriate non-financial assistance.
