Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 4 July 2023
66. Deputy Brendan Smith asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth if he will put in place at an early date an adequate grant aid scheme to support the provision of new and substantial community childcare facilities where such needs exist; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32443/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Minister is aware, community childcare facilities, along with childcare accommodation provided by private providers, has transformed childcare provision over the past 20 years throughout the entire country. Were it not for community facilities, there would be areas without childcare provision. Grant aid was very significant, with some projects being funded to a level of more than €1.1 million. Another such scheme is needed, based on the representations coming to me in recent times.
This is an issue the Deputy has brought to me regularly.
It touches on what Deputy Dillon spoke about earlier regarding capacity.
Some €69 million has been allocated between 2023 and 2025 to the early learning and childcare sectors under the revised national development plan. This will enable significant capital investment in early learning and childcare across three pillars. Pillar 1 is the improvement grant, pillar 2 is the capacity grant and pillar 3 is the innovation grant. The improvement grant was offered this year and is now closed. Under this pillar, €9 million was allocated earlier this year in grants ranging from €35,000 to €75,000 for either energy upgrades or retrofit projects. Work is currently under way on the design and delivery of pillars 2 and 3, which have a combined allocation of €20 million in 2024, growing to €40 million in 2025.
The capacity grant will be available to both community and private providers to fund an expansion of existing services in areas of under supply. Funding will also be provided to support the delivery of new services, where they are most needed.
The innovation grant will pilot a range of innovative initiatives, such as outdoor early learning and childcare services. A working group, comprising officials from my Department, representatives of the city and county childcare committees and Pobal, has been established to oversee the design and delivery of pillar 2. The group is conducting a needs analysis, which will identify areas of unmet need, by geographical area and by age cohort.
I hope to be in a position to provide more information on the capacity grant in the coming weeks. In addition to capital funding, as I mentioned to Deputy Dillon, the mere introduction of core funding has created expansion in terms of capacity. That can be seen in the €28 million allocated in year two. We are allowing for a 3% growth in overall capacity. Extra money has been put in to recognise that by creating core funding we are going to grow the number of places.
I thank the Minister for his reply and compliment him on the work he has been doing over the past two and a half years in expanding the range of supports available for childcare. Thankfully, the public finances are in a very healthy state today due to policies that have been implemented over many years in building an enterprise economy and growing our exports. At this particular time, more and more funding should be devoted to the provision of more and upgraded childcare accommodation. We all know that the greatest resource we have as a country is our young people. We have to ensure that every child, regardless of where he or she comes from or lives, has access to a modern childcare facility.
I mentioned to the Minister previously that there are a number of groups in my constituency where, thankfully, the numbers have overgrown their existing childcare facilities. However, additional capacity is needed. We are talking about extremely large-scale funding. I remember very well from my time in the Department and as a public representative over many years that were it not for the community childcare provision, there would be many areas, particularly rural ones, where we would not have childcare provision.
I thank the Deputy. Regarding the pillars I announced there, I think the Deputy is going to be particularly interested in pillar 2, which is a capacity grant. This will allow existing services to expand and build brand new services. I hope that later on in the summer, we will be in a position to make the announcement on how people can apply this year to draw down funds for the capacity grant in 2024, pillar 2 of the provision. There will be an allocation of capital money for 2024 and for 2025. I know the Deputy will be interested in that, as will most other Deputies.
The core funding is promoting a growth of allocation. The issues to do with the planning system and the delivery of new services when significant residential areas are built are also important. It might be a little bit more significant in more urbanised areas than in other areas, but nevertheless it is important in terms of developing and delivering extra capacity.
I thank the Minister. I am particularly interested in the capacity measure. I was involved in a getting a group in my constituency a childcare facility in that town. I remember people saying that it would never be used to its fullest potential because there would not be enough children. Thankfully, in one sense, it is not able to cope with the numbers. This is a great sign of how satisfied parents are with the quality of the childcare provided and the great support that is given to parents, particularly mothers, who want to return to the workforce. A very committed and active committee is involved with the project. It is looking at the numbers for the future and it has outlined to me that it will have to leave the present accommodation because it cannot grow it any more. We went through some figures. We are talking about a large amount of funding to put a new childcare facility in place.
When we have that willingness and determination from local communities to put in place proper childcare for the local children, we have to ensure every possible support is given to them. In the past we had grants of up to €1.2 million available for community childcare facilities. Those facilities have transformed childcare provision in so many communities and we need to keep repeating that.
I acknowledge this is an area the Deputy knows particularly well. As I said, we have brought in these allocations under the NDP. They will be able to be drawn down next year and the following year. I would like it if the envelope were a bit bigger. We will always be pushing to grow the capital as well as the current side we spoke about earlier. We will continue to work to grow that. The figures are big, particularly when one designs purpose-built childcare facilities. We want that more and more, so that we are giving the very best to our children.
