Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 14 October 2004
163 Dr. Upton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the names and addresses of, and the amount sought by all persons under the equal opportunities child care programme in regard to applications which have been paid in full; and the same details in regard to the applications still pending. [24886/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraIn July 2004, my Department circulated a comprehensive review of the progress on the implementation of the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006 to all Deputies and Senators for their information. This review contains a detailed list of all grants approved to December 2003 under the programme and includes location by county, the funding approved and impact on child care places in each case, where appropriate. This document is also available on my Department's website and it is intended that updates of key data will be circulated half yearly with a further comprehensive review in 2006.
To date I have approved almost 3,000 grant applications under the EOCP, making €266 million in capital, staffing and quality improvement grants for child care nationwide. A total of €223.1 million has been approved for a wide range of capital and staffing projects across the country and, on completion of the EOCP, this funding is projected to create over 30,000 new child care places. A significant part of the remaining funding will be required to roll over staffing grant supports being made available to child care facilities which cater for disadvantaged families and for ongoing supports to the city/county child care committees and the national voluntary child care organisations.
In a programme with over 2,000 grant beneficiaries, including almost 800 grants receiving ongoing current funding, the provision of a list of grants which have been paid in full is unlikely to give a meaningful picture of progress under the EOCP.
Expenditure for the programme to June 2004 is €171.9 million under capital, staffing and quality improvement measures. Of the total spend to June, €138.4 million has been spent by child care groups which are developing and directly providing child care places. I also understand that 20,500 new places are currently in place as a result of the EOCP expenditure to date. In addition, over 20,600 existing places have received support under the programme.
Given their commercial sensitivity, the Department does not release the details of grant applicants in advance of the completion of the appraisal and decision processes. I would also note to the Deputy that in addition to applications on hand a large number of projects are now beginning to come to the end of their original funding cycle. Proposals for ongoing staffing supports to groups whose original funding or continuation funding elapses shortly are currently being developed in my Department. In this context, it is expected that only those groups which clearly provide child care services for families with significant levels of disadvantage and where the parents are in employment, education or training will receive ongoing staffing supports under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006.
