Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 13 July 2023
647. Deputy Mark Ward asked the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth what supports are available to naíonra-type childcare providers; if additional funding is being considered for Budget 2024; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35461/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraBudget 2024 will be announced in October. Any additional funding secured under this budget will be announced at that point in time.
Funding provided by my Department for early learning and care (ELC) and school-age childcare (SAC) services are the same for both Irish-medium and English-medium services. My colleague the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media provides additional supports for naíonraí in the Gaeltacht through her Department and its agencies.
There is much value in supporting the provision of services in the Irish language to children at an early age. Early learning and childcare services play an important role here, in particular in promoting Irish as a living language.
My Department is working closely with the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media and the Department of Education to implement a comprehensive set of actions that were agreed as part of the 5 Year Action Plan for the Irish Language 2018-2022. These actions are designed to affirm the importance that ELC settings have in encouraging the development and revitalisation of the Irish language. The aim of these actions is to build on the existing measures, supports and partnerships in place in the area of Irish-medium early learning and childcare, and to further improve these supports and services.
Inter-Departmental coordination in relation to supports for Irish-medium provision of ELC, both inside and outside the Gaeltacht, takes place through the National Early Years Oversight Group (established as part of the 5-Year Irish Language Action Plan), which is chaired and coordinated by officials in my Department.
In line with the commitments in the 5 Year Action Plan, the development a Comprehensive Plan to further the development of Irish language provision in the ELC and SAC sector has commenced. To support the development of a Comprehensive Plan it was necessary to survey Irish-medium ELC/SAC settings including childminders to obtain a baseline of the current level of Irish-medium provision in the sector. A survey of providers was therefore undertaken, and the opportunity was also used to survey providers on the supports, services and resources they believe would be most useful to support Irish-medium provision. This report is being finalised and will be published shortly. The report will complement other research and consultation processes planned for later this year, to support the work of an Advisory Group which is being established to oversee the drafting of the Comprehensive Plan. It is intended that the Plan will be published in 2024.
