Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Tuesday, 18 Jun 2002

Vol. 553 No. 2

Written Answers. - Child Care Services.

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

As the Deputy is aware, child care funding is available as part of the Govern ment funding initiatives which are being administered under my Department's equal opportunities child care programme 2000 to 2006. I understand that, to date, eight child care services with an address in Ballymun have been allocated funding under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme towards staffing costs while two of these projects have also been allocated capital grant funding. These eight services have been allocated a total of €1.84 million which will help maintain approximately 200 child care places and lead to the creation of almost 105 new child care places.

The child care services identified were as follows:

Group	Existing Childcare Places	New Childcare Places	Total
Born Free Ltd.	12	0	12
Community and Family Training Agency Ltd.	15	0	15
Tobar na Feile	0	32	32
Ballymun Women's Resource Centre	23	17	40
Axis/Ballymun Arts and Community Resource Centre	0	34	34
Ballymun East Community Centre	80	20	100
Choiste Naíonra Glór na Gael	40	0	40
Coiste Naíonra Scoil an tSeachtar Laoch	32	0	32

The Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000 to 2006 is administered by ADM Limited on my behalf. Applications for grant assistance are evaluated under five main criteria: socio-economic and demographic profile of the area; quality of the proposal; capacity of the group to implement the project; level of integration or co-ordination; costings and value for money.

On receipt of funding under the programme, each grant recipient must provide a quarterly report on the progress of the project, from both a financial and an operational standpoint. In addition, grant recipients are subject to audit by Irish and EU officials to ensure compliance with their contractual obligations. Grant recipients must comply with the Child Care (Pre-school Services) Regulations, 1996, which are administered by the health boards and must, where relevant, submit their most recent inspection report with their application for grant assistance.

The Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme does not prescribe fee structures for grant recipients, but each grant recipient must be able to meet all their operational costs from their income – including fee income – and their staffing grant assistance.