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

As the Deputy has pointed out, the scheme was piloted from April 2013 but the take-up was extremely low. As a result, the number of places under the scheme was reduced to 500 in 2014, from the original figure of 6,000. The funding allocation in 2014 was €2.205 million and this has been reduced to €1.323 million because of the decrease in the number of places from 500 to 300. The number of places actually available is likely to be higher than this, as some parents will not require a pick-up service and some may require child care places for fewer than five days per week.

The community employment child care programme is administered by this Department on behalf of the Department of Social Protection. When it was realised that the take-up on the after-school scheme was low, discussions with the Department of Social Protection led to the creation of a scheme targeted specifically at Department of Social Protection clients participating in the community employment schemes operated by that Department. The programmes provide part-time care for children up to the age of five and from July 2014, after-school care for primary school children up to the age of 13, of persons participating in community employment schemes. A total of 1,200 preschool and 800 after-school places are available on this programme. The Department of Social Protection determines eligibility for the child care places. It is a popular scheme and the take-up is good. The cost of the programme in 2014 amounted to €6.72 million and this is being maintained in 2015. In addition, administration costs associated with the programme are expected to be approximately €320,000.