James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am awaiting a paper on how that €75 million might be disbursed. Therefore, I am unable to provide the Deputy with any further information at this time. The review to which the Deputy alluded is not complete but that work will inform the interdepartmental group. With reference to the new mentoring better start and training support scheme and the Learner fund, €4 million has been ring-fenced to support the quality agenda for the early years services. A total of €2.5 million has been provided to finance a quality support service, Better Start, for preschool services. Thirty graduates in early childhood care and education have been recruited to work directly with services to improve quality, including assisting services in the implementation of the Síolta and Aistear framework and the Aistear curriculum. The new service will work closely with the city and county child care committees and the voluntary child care organisations to support service providers to improve the quality of their services. The work of the service will be based on a new practice guide, based on Síolta and Aistear, which is currently being developed by the National Council for Curriculum Assessment. A total of €1.5 million per annum has been provided to finance a training support scheme known as the Learner fund, which amounts to €3 million over two years, to assist staff already working in the child care sector to meet the new child care qualification requirements which are being introduced from September 2015. The Learner fund is being implemented in conjunction with Pobal and the local city and county child care committees. It will allow individual staff to choose their preferred training provider from a list of accredited providers who have been approved following an expression of interest process.