Dan Boyle
Ceist:166 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of child care and nursery grants allocated by his Department that are single year or multiannual funding. [23804/03]
Adjournment Debate. - Grant Payments.
Dan Boyle
Ceist:167 Mr. Boyle asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average allocation of child care and nursery grants given by his Department in 2003 to date. [23805/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 166 and 167 together.
The equal opportunities childcare programme 2000-06 has been established to support the development of quality, affordable and accessible childcare to meet the needs of parents who wish to remain in, or return to, the labour force or to undertake training or education to enhance their employment opportunities. The programme which is funded by both the Exchequer and the European Union has a total budget of €437 million to distribute over the life of the national development plan. Each application for funding under the capital grant scheme is assessed on its own merits. The maximum level of funding for private providers is €50,790 or 65% of the total cost, whichever is the lesser. However, no limit applies to community based or not-for-profit groups. Due consideration is given to the size of the development and the proposed service on offer to ensure that value for money is achieved and also that all other elements of the programme criteria are satisfactorily addressed. In addition to capital grants, the programme also has scope to consider applications for staffing supports from community-based child care services. These services, however, must be located in areas of significant disadvantage or have a particular focus on disadvantage. While there is no average allocation awarded under the programme, consideration is given to issues such as opening hours, duration of service, number of weeks, whether the service is catering for babies, etc.
Since the commencement of the programme a total of €85,669,204 has been committed to 737 projects under the staffing measure. The grants were, in the main, allocated over a three-year period. Of this total, funding of almost €2.2 million has been committed to 88 projects for a one-year period. In the same period, capital funding totalling €110.7 million was committed to 1,064 projects from both the community-based child care services and private child care providers. The total funding approved to child care providers since 1 January 2003 is €36.1 million with the average grant amount of €99,300.