Michael Creed
Ceist:179 Mr. Creed asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the assistance, if any, available from his Department by way of grant aid towards the establishment of crèches. [4473/00]
Written Answers. - Child Care Services.
My Department has been allocated £250 million under the national development plan for the next seven years to fund the development of child care under a range of initiatives over the course of the plan.
The initiatives that will be funded include the expansion of the equal opportunities child care programme as well as provision of funding towards the development of local child care network initiatives to provide mutual support for providers and facilitate the dissemination of information and learning materials thereby assisting the provision of a high quality service to parents and children. A further element will be the provision of a new capital grant scheme for child care providers caring for up to 20 child care places to assist in upgrading their facilities thus helping them to provide a better quality environment for children under their care.
The criteria and the eligibility requirements for each of the measures are being developed at present and it is intended to promote the various initiatives in the coming weeks, at which stage information leaflets and application forms will be available from the equal opportunities child care section of my Department.
The taxation measures in place concerning child care facilities may be of interest to the Deputy. These measures include an accelerated capital allowance at the rate of up to 100% on expenditure incurred in the construction, refurbishment or extension of premises to be used for child care purposes. In addition, the provision of free or subsidised child care facilities by employers, whether in-house or in premises made available by the employer in another location, is exempt from a benefit-in-kind charge on employees benefiting from the facilities.