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Departmental Funding

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 15 June 2021

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

Questions (968, 970, 973, 974, 975, 976)

Kathleen Funchion

Question:

968. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated to the temporary wage subsidy childcare scheme; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 in tabular form. [31350/21]

View answer

Kathleen Funchion

Question:

970. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated to early years sector; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down to mitigate the impact of Covid-19 in tabular form. [31352/21]

View answer

Kathleen Funchion

Question:

973. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated in 2020 and 2021 to national childcare scheme to mitigate the impact of Covid-19; and the amount of this allocation that was spent in 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [31355/21]

View answer

Kathleen Funchion

Question:

974. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated in 2020 and 2021 to community childcare subvention plus to mitigate the impact of Covid-19; and the amount of this allocation that was spent in 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [31356/21]

View answer

Kathleen Funchion

Question:

975. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated in 2020 and 2021 to access and inclusion model to mitigate the impact of Covid-19; and the amount of this allocation that was spent in 2020 and to date in 2021, in tabular form. [31357/21]

View answer

Kathleen Funchion

Question:

976. Deputy Kathleen Funchion asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the amount of funding that was allocated to the Covid-19 support payment in 2021; and the amount of this allocation that was drawn down for 2021. [31358/21]

View answer

Written answers

I propose to take Questions Nos. 968, 970, 973, 974, 975 and 976 together.

Since the onset of Covid-19, my Department and the State more broadly has put in place a range of supports for Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare (ELC/SAC) services. The objective of these supports have been to:

- support providers’ sustainability to enable services return to normal once restrictions were lifted;

- support providers to retain their staff;

- ensure that ELC/SAC could reopen and remain open, even at very low levels of occupancy;

- ensure that ELC/SAC could operate safely for children, families and staff;

Ensure that increased costs associated with public health requirements, and lower demand / occupancy were not passed on to parents;

- achieve administrative efficiency through the continued use of existing funding schemes and other whole of economy supports; and

- protect exchequer investment.

Supports in 2020 included:

- The continuation of DCEDIY subsidy schemes on an ex-gratia basis (12 March – 5 April 2020);

- The Temporary Wage Subsidy Childcare Scheme (6 April – 28 June 2020); which was layered on top of the Revenue Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme (TWSS) and provided a top-up for wages of eligible early learning and care and school-age childcare staff and a further payment to be used towards ongoing/non-deferrable operational costs such as rent, insurance and ICT.

- The Reopening Funding Package, (29 June – 23 August 2020), which included a once-off Reopening Support Payment (RSP), a once-off Covid-19 capital grant; continued access for eligible providers to the Revenue-operated TWSS and resumption of DCEDIY subsidy schemes (NCS, CCSP, TEC).

- The July Stimulus Package (from 24 August to end December 2020) which included the continuation of all DCEDIY subsidy schemes (NCS, CCSP, TEC), the resumption of the ECCE Programme, the Employer Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS) and a Sustainability Fund.

The table below shows the DCEDIY 2020 allocations and the amounts drawn down for the ELC/SAC sector across DCEDIY subsidy schemes and Covid-19 supports.

Scheme

Allocation 2020 (€m)

Expenditure (€m)

ECCE

€208.60

€216.60

AIM

€31.40

€17.40

NCS and Savers

€145.20

€109.40

Covid-19 TWSCS

€77.30

€56.60

Covid-19 RSP

€18.0

€13.1

Covid-19 Capital

€14.2

€13.0

Sustainability Support Funds

€2.2

€0.8

The underspend among the DCEDIY subsidy schemes in 2020 was primarily driven by the closures of the ELC/SAC sector from 12 March to 28 June 2020. However, this is not a full reflection of total State funding for the ELC/ SAC sector in 2020.

Funding under the Revenue-operated TWSS for the ELC/SAC sector is estimated to have cost €128m in 2020. This is an unreconciled figure provided from Revenue and the final figure is likely to be reduced. Moreover, up to end of 2020, it is estimated that €115m was provided to the sector under the EWSS, also from Revenue.

In addition to the DCEDIY allocation, the TWSS and the EWSS, the sector also benefitted from other State supports in 2020, including freezing of commercial rates; many chose the Restart Grant rather than the RSP; and 1,000 sole traders accessed the Pandemic Unemployment Payment at €350 per week rather than the EWSS during the temporary closures.

In addition to the DCEDIY subsidy schemes in 2021, there has also been a number of tailored funding supports from DCEDIY in 2021 to respond to Level 5 restrictions in the post-Christmas period. These included a Covid-19 Operating Support Payment and a new Covid-19 strand of the Sustainability Fund. These are in addition to the EWSS.

The table below shows the DCEDIY 2021 allocations and the amounts drawn down for the ELC/SAC sector across DCEDIY subsidy schemes and Covid-19 supports to date.

Scheme

Allocation 2021 (€m)

Expenditure (€m)

ECCE

€289.30

€164.30

AIM

€35.00

€11.40

NCS and Savers

€205.50

€78.00

COVID-19 Operational Support Payment

€ -

€12.00

ELC/SAC employers continue to be entitled to access the EWSS with an exemption to having to demonstrate the drop in turnover that applies to other sectors. Since October 2020, EWSS has been paid at enhanced rates and these rates are estimated to cover, on average, 80% of staff costs in the sector, or 50% of total operating costs. The weekly cost of EWSS at enhanced rates to the sector is estimated to be €7.4m. EWSS at enhanced rates are in place until end Q3 2021.

There is strong evidence of the effectiveness of these supports.

- The data on services that have closed and opened in 2020 are directly comparable to 2019 so there has been no loss of capacity:

- 197 services that were on the Early Years Register reported permanent closure to Tusla in 2020 compared to 196 in 2019.

- 91 new services were registered in 2020 compared to 93 in 2019.

Data from the Office of the Revenue Commissioners indicates that the number of employees in the sector has not changed substantially over the course of the pandemic

Data from the Annual Early Years Sector Profile 2020 Survey revealed no significant increase in fees charged to parents. Fieldwork for the 2021 is currently underway and will allow for further analysis of the impact of the Covid-19 and the measures taken by the DCEDIY and the State to support the sector. I anticipate this data being available in the coming months.

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