Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 January 2023
955. Deputy Sorca Clarke asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the funding that has been applied for or is being considered in relation to the Grange building childcare facility in Mullingar, County Westmeath. [63501/22]
View answerMy Department does not share details of funding applications received from individual services or those under consideration.
Early learning and childcare providers can access funding though my Department’s funding model, Together for Better, which brings together three major programmes: the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, including the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM); the National Childcare Scheme (NCS); and the new Core Funding scheme.
In addition, I successfully secured approximately €70m in the revised National Development Plan (NDP) allocation for the Building Blocks Capital Programme designed to meet current and long-term early learning and childcare infrastructure needs.
The Building Blocks Capital Programme includes three strands:
- €9m Building Blocks - Improvement Grant
- €45m Building Blocks - Capacity Grant
- €15m Building Blocks - Innovation Grant
Applications for the Building Blocks - Improvement Grant (relating to green energy and retrofitting), closed on 16 December.
Early learning and childcare services are also eligible to apply for the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS). Under TBESS, businesses engaged in school-age childcare who have suffered an increase of at least 50% in the average unit price of electricity and/or natural gas for the relevant billing period in 2022, as compared with the average unit price for electricity and/or gas for the corresponding reference period in 2021, will be eligible under the scheme.
