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Gnáthamharc

Child Care Services.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 23 March 2004

Tuesday, 23 March 2004

Ceisteanna (456, 457, 458)

Joe Higgins

Ceist:

456 Mr. J. Higgins asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on the establishment of quality, community based, State-run child care facilities as a matter of urgency in order that parents have no problems in securing child care places, which are very expensive; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8418/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

501 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the claim that Irish parents are spending an average of €800 per month on child care for one child, and much higher than this in many cases; if information is collected by his Department on the typical child care costs for Irish families; if so, will he provide the latest information on such costs to the House; the action he is taking to reduce child care costs; if his attention has further been drawn to the enormous disincentive for parents in taking up or continuing in employment, especially if they have two children, because of child care costs; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8831/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Róisín Shortall

Ceist:

502 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the assistance on offer from the State to parents to cover child care costs while they are at work. [8832/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 456, 501 and 502 together.

The Deputy will be aware that there have been very significant developments in the provision of supports for the development of child care in recent years. Child care was identified as a priority area for investment in the National Development Plan 2000-2006 and the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006, EOCP, was launched by my Department in April 2000 to support the development of a range of child care facilities to enable parents to remain in or return to employment, education and training. We are aware that, at the turn of the century, there were approximately 56,000 centre based child care places in Ireland.

When all the EOCP 2000-06 funding is drawn down, I expect that we will have supported at least 30,000 additional places, benefiting every county. The current EOCP is a seven year programme which aims to maintain and increase the number of child care facilities and places, improve the quality of child care services and introduce a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of child care services to meet the diverse childcare needs of parents in employment, education or training.

Total funding allocated to my Department for these purposes during the seven year period of the programme is €437 million for a diverse but strategically focused range of measures including capital grants, staffing supports for community facilities in disadvantaged areas and projects designed to improve the quality of childcare. The total funding committed under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006, in the period up to 28 February 2004, is more than €254.3 million. Over 2,000 grants have been awarded to date to child care providers and community groups which will, when fully drawn down, lead to the creation of 28,002 new child care places and will also support over 26,500 existing places. Much of the unallocated funding is already earmarked for second phases of existing projects, particularly as a contribution to the staffing costs of community based child care facilities which offer services to disadvantaged families.

At the request of my Department, the Central Statistics Office included a module on child care in its 2002 quarterly national household survey. The survey found that for families with pre-school children only, the average cost of child care was about €105, while the average weekly cost for families using child care for school going children only was almost €76 per week. For families using a mix of child care, the average weekly cost was found to be €107.37. The Deputy will also be aware that child benefit supports made available by my colleague, the Minister for Social and Family Affairs, have been increased very significantly in recent years to support parents in their choices with regard to the care of their children. The programme for Government and the progress of my Department's equal opportunities childcare programme are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing child care and keeping it at the forefront of its social agenda.

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