Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 23 October 2019
188. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the level of grant aid will be increased to enable community childcare providers upgrade or provide additional childcare places in circumstances in which there is a proven demand for such facilities and in which large scale expenditure would be necessary to undertake such projects; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [43850/19]
Amharc ar fhreagraOne of the key priorities for my Department's capital programme is supporting private and not for profit childcare providers to extend their existing services, or to establish new services, where need or demand exists.
My Department has had an unprecedented increase of 137% for early learning and care and school age childcare in the past five budgets. This extra investment has supported a doubling of capacity in the sector, including both ECCE and the 0-3 age group.
Each year my Department reviews the Early Learning and Care and School Age Childcare sector to determine how the Capital funding available can best be invested.
The decision on where to target capital spending to support policy aims is informed by an analysis of the current state of the childcare sector, learnings from previous capital programmes and feedback and input from stakeholders, including childcare providers and data from Pobal and other sources.
In previous years the Department has invested greatly in both privately run or operated by community or not for profit preschool providers in creating and maintaining Early Childhood Care and Education places within their services.
Furthermore, in recent years, capital funding has been made available for the maintenance and improvement of community early learning and care services. This funding is made available in order to protect previous state investment where it exists, as many community services were set up through significant capital investment under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP 2000-2006) and/or the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP 2006-2010), and to assist not-for-profit services which may lack the financial capacity to invest significant portions of their own funds into maintenance or improvement works.
In order to maximise the number of service providers and families who benefit from Early Years and School Age capital funding, limits on the individual grant sizes awarded are necessary. Focus on smaller individual grant sizes, as in previous single-year capital programmes, means that projects could ultimately be funded with the available budget. This also enabled us to build capacity gradually across a wider geographical spread, responding to the increased demand that exists all around the country due to the new initiatives I have introduced to support access to affordable and high quality childcare.
Planning for 2020's Capital offering is currently underway within my Department. The details of this will be communicated to providers in due course.
Childcare was identified as a strategic priority in the National Development Plan (2018-2027) and €250m in capital funding was secured for childcare under the plan.
The NDP funding will allow us return to funding larger scale, multi year projects. Research is on-going to determine areas of specific need that the NDP funding will address when it comes on stream in the coming years. The exact shape and priorities of this funding is currently being developed: more information will be made public on childcare plans under the NDP as it becomes available.
