Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 8 September 2020
28. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration his plans to increase the range of after-school services in schools and community hubs in County Cork. [22362/20]
Amharc ar fhreagra53. Deputy Cormac Devlin asked the Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration his plans to increase the range of after-school services in schools and community hubs in Dublin. [22366/20]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy question relates to the firm programme for Government commitment to increase the range of supports for after-school services and community hubs. In County Cork and my constituency of Cork North-Central, what plans does the Minister have to deliver these much-needed services?
I propose to take Questions Nos. 28 and 53 together.
I thank Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan for his question. There is a large demand for high-quality, accessible and affordable school-age childcare services. This demand is seen in all areas of the country, including in my constituency and I have no doubt in Cork city.
To help meet this demand, the programme for Government commits to increasing the range of after-school services in schools and community hubs.
My Department has provided support for the development of school-age childcare places through dedicated capital grant funding. Between 2017 and 2019, over €6 million was awarded in capital funding to assist the creation of new school-age childcare places nationally and to ensure that the quality of care was raised.
Key to supporting this will be the national childcare scheme, NCS, which since 2019 has been open to school-age childcare services.
School-age childcare services registered with Tusla can now encourage parents to apply for NCS subsidies of up to €3.75 per hour for each school-age child.
My Department published an action plan in 2017 which set out a range of actions to strengthen the provision of school-age childcare. The action plan recognised that some parents cannot care for their children outside school hours particularly where they are working.
The action plan included a commitment to maximise the use of schools and community facilities for school-age childcare, where the environments are suitable, and where there is an agreement with the school patron or trustees.
To this end, the Department of Education and Skills is engaging with schools and encouraging patrons to make their buildings available for this purpose.
The national development plan recognises childcare as a strategic priority for Ireland. I look forward to working further on this to ensure that funding is made available to expand capacity where demand exists.
The return of schools is very welcome for many parents who spent the last six months caring for children and continuing to work. It builds on previous work in reopening the early-years and childcare sectors. While this will allow more people to return to work should they wish to do so, many gaps in provision remain to be addressed in the provision of after-school and community services. This is particularly the case for single parents. By their nature, many of these after-school and community places are created on an ad hoc basis with individual facilities offering them when they become available.
With this in mind, ensuring that parents can afford this service will be vital in increasing the provision of these places. What supports is the Minister developing to help parents access these services when they become available?
There is significant demand for school-age childcare services. I just did some calculations and I believe the vacancy rate in Cork city is about 4% which is obviously very tight. That is a clear indication of the need to provide more places. The Deputy spoke about the ad hoc development of these services, which is right to a degree. The previous Minister introduced the action plan to get a higher-level view of where these services were needed and to identify how we could take the available capital funding, which will continue for the duration of the national development plan, and direct it to those places, be it for brand new facilities or by ensuring that after the school day the school hall or some other facility in the school could be used for school-age childcare. We need schools to be a bit more flexible because sometimes schools are not entirely happy with that use and we should put in some supports there.
There is a concern with schools which needs to be addressed in the short to medium term. While the Minister for Education and Skills has confirmed that this opening is intended to support the reopening of after-school services, it is likely that many schools which might provide space for such a facility may not do so this year given public health concerns. Is the Department actively engaging with schools, which have previously provided after-school services, to ensure that these schools, where safe to do so, are providing places which have previously been available and encouraging them to increase the number of available spaces where appropriate?
Where it is safe to do so, there is no reason for a school not to give permission for the use of their facilities for school-age childcare after school provided all public health guidelines are maintained. The availability of that childcare is really important. Over the summer we have been very successful in reopening childcare facilities and got to about 94% of what was normally open. With the reopening of schools, we are at the wider opening of childcare and ECCE services. I commit to keeping a close eye on this. If it is a phenomenon that builds up, we will definitely act on it. If the Deputy is aware of specific instances, I would be happy for him to bring them to my attention.
Deputy Whitmore has conveyed her apologies for not being present for Question No. 29.
