Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 June 2020
991. Deputy Anne Rabbitte asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the number of crèches that will leave or have left the childcare sector in 2020 either due to natural attrition or the impacts of Covid-19. [8421/20]
View answerEvery year a number of early years services decide to close of their own volition, often for a variety of reasons. In line with the provisions of the Child Care Act 1991 (as amended by Part 12 of the Child and Family Agency Act, 2013), early years services that decide to cease operations are required to notify Tusla’s Early Years Inspectorate of their planned closure. All data collected by Tusla relating to reported closures is collated and verified on a rolling quarterly basis.
Both my Department and Tusla are aware of and appreciate the difficulties faced by many early years providers as a result of the on-going Covid-19 public health restrictions and acknowledge the impact of these restrictions on the sector.
Despite this difficult situation, data received by Tusla’s Early Years Inspectorate has shown that there have been relatively few permanent closures of early years services to date as a result of the ongoing restrictions. The number of reported closures for Quarter 1 2020 is seven. Data for Quarter 2 is not yet available.
As a direct response to the COVID-19 closure of ELC and SAC services, I launched the Temporary Wage Subsidy Childcare Scheme (TWSCS) which is a very significant measure to support the sector. TWSCS operates in conjunction with the Revenue Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS), which was initially introduced on 26 March to operate for 12 weeks, until 18 June.
My Department is currently examining funding options for the childcare sector in relation to the reopening of services.
