Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 13 May 2020
1110. Deputy Jim O'Callaghan asked the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if changes will be made to the system in place by which staff in preschools must complete a large amount of administrative work in order for parents to claim €64.50 for the free ECCE preschool year for their child (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4802/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe Exchequer invests over €300m per annum in the ECCE programme and hence a certain amount of controls must be in place. The average payment per child is €75 per week which amounts to €2,850 per annum, or for the standard groups of 11 or 22 children, €31,350 and €62,700 retrospectively. This by its nature demands a certain amount of governance and administration.
I introduced Programme Support Payments (PSPs) in 2017 to recognise the additional time required of providers for the administration of the early learning and care and school age childcare programmes which are funded by my Department, and for non-contact time activities.
My Department’s expenditure on PSP has increased significantly each year since I introduced the measure :
- In 2017, an initial budget of €13m was allocated for this programme. Over the course of that year, I secured an increase and a total of €17.7m was spent on PSP (then referred to as the “non-contact time” payment) across two tranches;
- In 2018, a total of €18.7m was spent on PSP, with the rise in value attributed to rises in registrations and increases to subvention rates for the targeted schemes;
- In 2019, the budget for PSP was €19.4m. In December 2019 I secured an additional €7m to reflect the significant time that was required to meet regulatory requirements in late 2019.
€12.8m of the total 2019 budged for 2019 was paid out in support of ECCE delivery. The payment is equal to 7 days’ ( or 1.4 weeks’) subvention for ECCE services based on a “snapshot” period of registrations. This amounts to a payment of €129 per individual child attending ECCE, or €1419 per annum for an 11 child ECCE room.
