Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 January 2024
1334. Deputy Claire Kerrane asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if consideration could be given for funding from the recently announced 'Building Blocks - Capacity Grant' for a project where Government funding previously announced has been revoked (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [56697/23]
View answerThe funding the Deputy is referring to relates to a grant agreement between the organisation and the Irish Refugee Protection Programme which expired in December 2021.
In relation to Building Block grants, some €69 million has been allocated over the period 2023-2025 to the early learning and childcare sector under the revised National Development Plan (NDP). This will enable significant capital investment in early learning and childcare across three pillars:
Building Blocks - Improvement Grant
Building Blocks - Capacity grant
Building Blocks - Innovation Grant
Under the Building Blocks - Improvement Grant, €9 million was allocated last year in grants ranging from €35,000 to €75,000 for green energy upgrades and retrofit projects for services in need of upgrading. In total 151 services were awarded funding under this scheme. This scheme is now closed.
Some €45 million has been set aside under Pillar 2 for early learning and childcare capital projects over 2024 and 2025. On 7 December, I announced details of the Building Blocks - Capacity Grant scheme which is aimed at addressing capacity gaps, where most needed. The scheme will be broken into two strands.
Under the first strand, €15m will be made available from early 2024 to providers to fund renovations and upgrades of existing premises to cater for more children. Under the second strand, funding will be made available to providers later in 2024 to commence larger-scale expansion projects for completion in 2025. Total funding available for this scheme will be €20m. Both strands are open to services that have signed up to Core Funding. My Department is undertaking a detailed needs analysis which will ensure that the funding is targeted towards communities with identified under-supply and categories of need.
