Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 3 December 2020
97. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the progress in meeting the ambitious but important target of doubling public investment in early learning and care and school-age childcare by 2028; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40648/20]
View answerFirst 5 the ten-year Strategy on Babies and Young Children, was published in November 2018 and pledged to double investment in early learning and care and school-age childcare over the period 2019-2028.
In order to double investment from the 2018 baseline, we will need to invest an additional €485 million over the lifetime of the Strategy.
I recently published the First 5 Annual Implementation Report which demonstrates very good progress made on First 5 actions, including this target. In Budget 2019, an additional €89.6m was allocated to early learning and childcare. A further €63.5m was secured in Budget 2020. Cumulatively, this represents 31% of the First 5 target to double investment over ten years.
This 31% progress towards the 2028 target excludes the very significant State support provided to this sector since the onset of COVID-19. This year, in addition to the planned budget for the year, we have allocated an estimated €200m to services through the Temporary Wage Subsidy Childcare Scheme, Reopening Support Grant, COVID-19 Capital Grant and Employer Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS).
This is in addition to other supports such as the waiving of commercial rates and the Restart Grant. On top of this, we project that the value of EWSS to services in the first quarter of 2021 will amount to some €70m.
I believe that this represents good progress in achieving such a substantial increase in investment in this important area. I am committed to making further progress on the First 5 target. This will require a significant commitment of resources in successive Budgets, based on high-quality data and evidence on the need for additional investment.
I want to make sure that the extra investment is properly targeted and achieves greater affordability and higher quality. The recommendations of the Expert Group to develop a new funding model, which began its work in October 2019, will be critical in informing how we use additional investment.
This Group is independently chaired and is composed of national and international experts, as well as policy experts from across Government Departments. Recommendations from this Group are expected next Autumn. These recommendations will set out how the additional funding pledged in First 5 delivers optimally for children, families and the State.
