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Gnáthamharc

Child Care Places.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 June 2005

Tuesday, 21 June 2005

Ceisteanna (440, 441)

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

461 Mr. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of child care places now provided outside the home; the number which are commercial, community and voluntary and provided by statutory agencies. [20617/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Richard Bruton

Ceist:

462 Mr. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his estimate of the number of children in each age cohort who are currently in child care; and the change in this percentage in the past five years. [20618/05]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 461 and 462 together.

The Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 1996 and (Amendment) Regulations 1997, which give effect to the provisions of Part VII of the Child Care Act 1991 provide for notification to, and inspection by, the Health Service Executive of pre-school child care services. The regulations apply to pre-schools, playgroups, day nurseries, crèches, childminders looking after more than three children and other similar services which cater for children under six years of age.

Information provided to the Department of Health and Children by the Health Service Executive indicates that the number of places known to be notified for pre-school children at the end of December 2004 was 80,127. This is based on notifications to and inspections by the Health Service Executive, formerly the health boards. The number of pre-school places broken down by category of service as requested by the Deputy is not routinely available. My colleague, the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Brian Lenihan, has indicated that he will ask the Health Service Executive to provide this information directly to the Deputy.

Because child care is provided by a mix of community based not for profit groups and private providers, together with the childminding sector which largely falls outside the scope of the child care regulations, there is no mechanism for gathering statistics of the actual numbers and age range of children who avail of child care in Ireland.

In 2002, the Central Statistics Office conducted a survey of child care arrangements by families as part of the national quarterly household survey cycle and found that 73,000 families with pre-school aged children and 67,000 families with school going children regularly avail of non-parental child care arrangements, which was defined as any form of child care other than that provided directly by parents or guardians themselves which is availed of on a regular weekly basis during the normal working week. This would encompass care by paid and unpaid relatives, paid carer or childminder, centre based child care such as a crèche or Montessori and other forms of child care. However, this research does not quantify the numbers of children availing of childcare.

The equal opportunities childcare programme provides funding for the development childcare services through the two regional operational programmes of the national development plan. The total funding available for the programme is €499.3 million. A considerable amount of data regarding the equal opportunities childcare programme and its impact is routinely collected. This data indicates that since 2002 the numbers of children attending centre based childcare services supported under the programme has risen from approximately 17,800, in 2002, to more than 35,400 in 2004.

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