Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 21 April 2015
424. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the supports available for the construction of an extension to an all-Irish playschool (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15422/15]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department currently provides approximately €260 million annually to early years and school-age care and education services. This funding is directed towards childcare programmes which aim to improve the accessibility, affordability and quality of early years and school-age care and education. These programmes – the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, and the Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes - support the provision of early years and school-age care and education for more than 100,000 children each year.
Capital funding totalling €11.25 million was provided over the past 3 years to support the refurbishment and upgrading of early years services. This funding was targeted primarily at the community sector with the objective of ensuring that previously-funded community facilities remained fit-for-purpose and in a position to maintain and improve quality, and to make community services more efficient and sustainable through improving the energy rating of these facilities.
On Wednesday last, I announced that further capital funding totalling €7 million is being made available in 2015 for early years services with €5 million of this funding being made available for grants specifically for community/not for profit services. This funding will provide grant aid, in the region of €500,000, for significant upgrades of community/not-for-profit services, such as major refurbishment or relocation to new premises. Also under this strand of funding, grants of up to €50,000 will be available for essential maintenance, or works undertaken to improve the energy performance of childcare facilities. The remaining €2 million in capital funding is being made available for both private and community childcare facilities to access grants of up to €500 for quality improvement measures, specifically in the area of upgrading IT facilities.
This new funding allocation is open to early years childcare facilities providing services under at least one of the support programmes that I have referred to above. There is no further capital funding available to my Department to support capital developments in the childcare sector.
Further information on the new capital programme can be found on the Pobal website at www.pobal.ie.
