Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Early Childhood Care and Education

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 31 January 2023

Tuesday, 31 January 2023

Ceisteanna (513)

Patricia Ryan

Ceist:

513. Deputy Patricia Ryan asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth the number of ECCE providers that have left the scheme in each of the past three years, by county, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3942/23]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme is a universal two-year pre-school programme available to all children within the eligible age range. The programme is provided for three hours per day, five days per week over 38 weeks per year and runs from September to June each year, aligned with the primary school calendar.

The figures supplied by the scheme administrator Pobal in the table below show the number of services contracted to offer ECCE for the 2019-20 programme year up to 2022-23 and show an overall reduction of 292 services offering ECCE for the period concerned.

It is to be noted that the unusual net changes recorded for Cork City and Cork County is because of the reorganisation of the county division boundaries, which was implemented in 2022/23. 

ECCE is a very successful programme and there are currently 107,248 children registered on the programme, which is an increase on the same period last year. My Department is not aware of any ECCE capacity issues.

My Department funds a national network of County Childcare Committees (CCCs) who provide support and advice to parents and childcare providers. If parents or guardians are having difficulty in accessing an ECCE place, they should contact their local County Childcare Committees (CCCs), who will provide them with advice and support. The contact details for all CCCs can be found on: www.myccc.ie

Table 1: The net change in the number of services contracted to provide ECCE between 2019/20 and 2022/23

County Division

ECCE 2019(Baseline)

ECCE 2020

Net Change 2020/21 vs 2019/20

ECCE 2021

Net Change 2021/22 vs 2020/21

ECCE 2022

Net Change 2022/23 vs 2021/22

Cork City

            83

          82

  -1

82

      0

     128

                46

County Carlow

            48

          46

                 -2

       45

                 -1

       45

                  0

County Cavan

            62

          64

                  2

       66

                  2

       64

                -2

County Clare

          127

        122

                -5

     126

                  4

     125

                -1

County Cork

          364

        352

               -12

     346

                 -6

     294

               -52

County Donegal

       141

        138

                -3

     143

                  5

     138

                -5

County Galway

          265

        254

               -11

     256

                  2

     250

                -6

County Kerry

          121

        123

                  2

     121

                -2

     121

                  0

County Kildare

          190

        180

               -10

     175

                -5

     170

                -5

County Kilkenny

            97

          91

                -6

       87

                -4

       86

                -1

County Laois

            79

          74

                -5

       79

                 5

       77

                -2

County Leitrim

            31

          30

                -1

       31

                 1

       30

                -1

County Limerick

          176

        167

                -9

     164

                -3

     161

                -3

County Longford

            33

          33

                 0

       33

                 0

       32

                -1

County Louth

          112

        108

                -4

     109

                 1

     104

                -5

County Mayo

          126

        123

                -3

     120

                -3

     119

                -1

County Meath

          198

        180

              -18

     176

                -4

     175

                -1

County Monaghan

            57

          56

                -1

       60

                 4

       59

                -1

County Offaly

            66

          62

                -4

       61

                -1

       61

                 0

County Roscommon

            54

          54

                 0

       53

                -1

       56

                 3

County Sligo

            66

          69

                 3

       66

                -3

       66

                 0

County Tipperary

          162

        154

                -8

     155

                 1

     156

                 1

County Waterford

            95

          88

                -7

       90

                 2

       92

                 2

County Westmeath

            76

          73

                -3

       75

                 2

       71

               -4

County Wexford

          136

        127

                -9

     125

                -2

     127

                 2

County Wicklow

          162

        148

              -14

     145

                -3

     143

               -2

Dublin City

          390

        370

              -20

     363

                -7

     358

               -5

Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown

          177

        167

              -10

     168

                 1

     161

               -7

Fingal

          303

        279

              -24

     270

                -9

     267

               -3

South Dublin

          232

        209

              -23

     205

                -4

     201

               -4

Grand Total

       4,229

     4,023

            -206

  3,995

              -28

  3,937

             -58

Barr
Roinn