Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 18 May 2022
144. Deputy Paul McAuliffe asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he has had any recent engagements with the Dublin City Childcare Committee in relation to increasing the number of childcare places in the city; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24989/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraOfficials in my Department have recently engaged with the Dublin City Childcare Committee to identify vacant places for early learning and childcare in their catchment area.
At present, there are 8,263 children enrolled in early learing and childcare services in Dublin City and 1,662 vacant places. Update data is currently being captured as part of the Annual Early Years Sector Profile.
The cuurent profile of vacant places in Dublin City follows the profile nationally whereby the majority of capacity (enrolled and vacant places) in services is for pre-schoolers followed by school-age children and toddlers and babies. Overall, the proportion of places for babies and toddlers is higher in more urbanised counties, while demand for these places is very high.
As the Deputy is aware, the availability of high-quality early learning and childcare that isaffordable and accessible is a key Government priority.
Since 2015, significant increases in State investment in early learning and childcare has given rise to a substantial growth in the numbers of children participating in these services. More than 100,000 children now participate on the universal pre-school programme on an annual basis and the National Childcare Scheme subsidises up to 80,000 children.
To ensure that the supply of early learning and childcare places meets demand, my Department has, since 2015, funded the creation of more than 27,000 new places through an Annual Capital Programme.
My Department is currently engaged in a range of steps to address any issue of under supply. A new core funding model, being rolled out at present, will provide funding for services aligned to costs of delivery so, for example, greater funding will be available to services that cater for younger children where costs of delivery are higher than older children. Some €70m has been allocated to my Department through the revised National Development Plan (NDP) – with the majority of this funding earmarked for new places. Another important step being taken by my Department, in partnership with the Department of Housing Planning and Local Government (DHPLG), is to update the 2001 Planning Guidelines for Local Authorities on Early Learning and Childcare Settings.
In addition to these measures, the Childcare Committees, including Dublin City Childcare Committee will proactively engage with early learning and childcare services to identify unused capacity and explore the potential for services to increase capacity where there is evidence of unmet early learning and childcare needs of families.
