Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2023
513. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of ECCE providers that have left the scheme in each of the past three years, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3942/23]
View answerThe Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and runs from September to June each year, aligned with the primary school calendar.
The figures supplied by the scheme administrator Pobal in the table below show the number of services contracted to offer ECCE for the 2019-20 programme year up to 2022-23 and show an overall reduction of 292 services offering ECCE for the period concerned.
It is to be noted that the unusual net changes recorded for Cork City and Cork County is because of the reorganisation of the county division boundaries, which was implemented in 2022/23.
ECCE is a very successful programme and there are currently 107,248 children registered on the programme, which is an increase on the same period last year. My Department is not aware of any ECCE capacity issues.
My Department funds a national network of County Childcare Committees (CCCs) who provide support and advice to parents and childcare providers. If parents or guardians are having difficulty in accessing an ECCE place, they should contact their local County Childcare Committees (CCCs), who will provide them with advice and support. The contact details for all CCCs can be found on: www.myccc.ie
Table 1: The net change in the number of services contracted to provide ECCE between 2019/20 and 2022/23
|
County Division |
ECCE 2019(Baseline) |
ECCE 2020 |
Net Change 2020/21 vs 2019/20 |
ECCE 2021 |
Net Change 2021/22 vs 2020/21 |
ECCE 2022 |
Net Change 2022/23 vs 2021/22 |
|
Cork City |
83 |
82 |
-1 |
82 |
0 |
128 |
46 |
|
County Carlow |
48 |
46 |
-2 |
45 |
-1 |
45 |
0 |
|
County Cavan |
62 |
64 |
2 |
66 |
2 |
64 |
-2 |
|
County Clare |
127 |
122 |
-5 |
126 |
4 |
125 |
-1 |
|
County Cork |
364 |
352 |
-12 |
346 |
-6 |
294 |
-52 |
|
County Donegal |
141 |
138 |
-3 |
143 |
5 |
138 |
-5 |
|
County Galway |
265 |
254 |
-11 |
256 |
2 |
250 |
-6 |
|
County Kerry |
121 |
123 |
2 |
121 |
-2 |
121 |
0 |
|
County Kildare |
190 |
180 |
-10 |
175 |
-5 |
170 |
-5 |
|
County Kilkenny |
97 |
91 |
-6 |
87 |
-4 |
86 |
-1 |
|
County Laois |
79 |
74 |
-5 |
79 |
5 |
77 |
-2 |
|
County Leitrim |
31 |
30 |
-1 |
31 |
1 |
30 |
-1 |
|
County Limerick |
176 |
167 |
-9 |
164 |
-3 |
161 |
-3 |
|
County Longford |
33 |
33 |
0 |
33 |
0 |
32 |
-1 |
|
County Louth |
112 |
108 |
-4 |
109 |
1 |
104 |
-5 |
|
County Mayo |
126 |
123 |
-3 |
120 |
-3 |
119 |
-1 |
|
County Meath |
198 |
180 |
-18 |
176 |
-4 |
175 |
-1 |
|
County Monaghan |
57 |
56 |
-1 |
60 |
4 |
59 |
-1 |
|
County Offaly |
66 |
62 |
-4 |
61 |
-1 |
61 |
0 |
|
County Roscommon |
54 |
54 |
0 |
53 |
-1 |
56 |
3 |
|
County Sligo |
66 |
69 |
3 |
66 |
-3 |
66 |
0 |
|
County Tipperary |
162 |
154 |
-8 |
155 |
1 |
156 |
1 |
|
County Waterford |
95 |
88 |
-7 |
90 |
2 |
92 |
2 |
|
County Westmeath |
76 |
73 |
-3 |
75 |
2 |
71 |
-4 |
|
County Wexford |
136 |
127 |
-9 |
125 |
-2 |
127 |
2 |
|
County Wicklow |
162 |
148 |
-14 |
145 |
-3 |
143 |
-2 |
|
Dublin City |
390 |
370 |
-20 |
363 |
-7 |
358 |
-5 |
|
Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown |
177 |
167 |
-10 |
168 |
1 |
161 |
-7 |
|
Fingal |
303 |
279 |
-24 |
270 |
-9 |
267 |
-3 |
|
South Dublin |
232 |
209 |
-23 |
205 |
-4 |
201 |
-4 |
|
Grand Total |
4,229 |
4,023 |
-206 |
3,995 |
-28 |
3,937 |
-58 |
