Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 January 2016
112. Deputy Martin Heydon asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the status of funding for the free preschool year for a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2529/16]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe childcare support programmes funded by my Department are administered by Pobal through the Programmes Implementation Platform (PIP).
These programmes include the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme, which supports low income and disadvantaged families in community childcare facilities, and the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme providing the free pre-school provision to eligible children before they commence primary school.
Funding for the CCS programme is approved to the childcare service, for the full programme year, based on the level of service the child has been registered for on a particular designated week in October. CCS services manage their annual budgets based on the level of funding approved for children registered in the service in that designated week and therefore must be guaranteed to maintain this funding for the remainder of the programme year. It is for this reason that parents must commit to the child’s attendance with the service for the period of time they registered the child for.
If a child leaves the childcare service before the end of the period for which they are enrolled they will not be eligible to participate in the CCS programme or any other childcare funding programme for the remainder of the programme year, as it would be considered to be ‘double funding’. If, however, the childcare service is in a financial position to incur the loss of the child’s CCS funding then the service can choose to voluntarily release the funding/child from the CCS programme, in which case the child would be in a position to register for another childcare funding programme in another service.
On registering a child for the CCS programme the parent signs a 'Parent Declaration Form' confirming that all the registration details are accurate and that they are aware that, once they have registered the child for the CCS programme, they cannot transfer the child to any other service or childcare programme without the service provider's voluntary release of the childcare funding.
My Department has been advised by Pobal that the child to which the Deputy refers was registered for subvention support under the CCS programme in a participating community childcare facility. The parents of this child subsequently removed the child from the community service. As I already pointed out the childcare service may retain the CCS funding, unless they choose to voluntarily release it. However, I understand that this particular service has decided to release the funding, and therefore the child may now register for the ECCE programme.
