Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 2 November 2004
407 Mr. Murphy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if funding will be provided to an association (details supplied) in County Limerick to construct a community based child care facility in Broadford, County Limerick. [26832/04]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe equal opportunities child care programme 2000-2006 is a seven-year development programme which aims to increase the availability and quality of child care to support parents in employment, education and training. The progress of the programme was commented upon favourably by the mid-term evaluators of both the regional operational programmes and the National Development Plan 2000-2006 and following the mid-term review, additional funding of approximately €12 million was made available for the child care measures. This brings the total funding available for the programme to €449.3 million.
There has been considerable demand from community-based groups for capital grant assistance under the programme and every county has benefited significantly from grants to provide new and enhanced community-based child care facilities and indeed to support capital developments in the private child care sector. ADM, on behalf of my Department, is currently carrying out an extensive review of the programme's capital commitments to date, numbering more than 1,100 and at a value of €114 million, to ensure that all the grant commitments previously entered into will be realised.
Projects may be awaiting planning permission or the completion of tender processes before reasonable assurance can be taken that they will proceed and if they do not, the funding set aside can be decommitted and made available to another project. Expenditure under the programme covers the period to the end of 2007 and must take place in a planned manner as must grant approvals to ensure that the programme can meet its financial commitments at all times.
In addition, my Department has recently reviewed the different budget lines under the EOCP, including the capital programme, to ensure that the most effective use is made of all remaining funding in accordance with the programme's objectives and this has brought to €157 million the total allocation for the capital development of child care under the present programme. At the same time, an extensive review of child care provision on the ground has taken place to identify obvious service gaps, the filling of which will be a priority using the remaining capital funding which currently exceeds €30 million, of which approximately €25 million is earmarked for community-based not for profit child care groups which provide services for young children to support their parents who may be in employment, education and training.
I intend to allocate the remaining capital funding under this strand of the Government's commitment to child care to address the most immediate service gaps. As a result, all the projects in the pipeline on 30 April 2004 have been reviewed again by ADM Limited on the basis of geographical need, the range of services being offered, value for money and the capacity of the groups to complete a project before the end of the programme in 2007. Those projects which best meet the criteria will receive priority funding from the capital funding which remains unallocated at this point.
I have made enquiries and I understand that an application for capital grant assistance was received from this group on 10 August 2004. This application has been forwarded to Area Development Management Limited which has been engaged by my Department to carry out a thorough assessment against the programme's criteria for grant assistance on my behalf. Given the relatively recent submission of the project, it will not be considered for funding under the current review process I have outlined above but it will be considered for funding should additional capital resources come available. The allocation of any additional funding which might come available to me will also be allocated on the basis of local need, levels of service being offered and value for money. In the interim, it would be premature of me to comment further on this capital grant application.
