Mr. Jerry Murphy:

I thank the Chairman and members of the committee for the opportunity to discuss the work of Pobal on the development of the affordable child care scheme.

Pobal was established in 1992 as Area Development Management Limited by the Government, with the agreement of the European Commission, as an intermediary company working on behalf of the Government to support social and economic development. Over time, our work has evolved in line with developments in government policy and the needs of the groups and communities we serve. In 2005, the company name changed to Pobal. The company is governed by a board of directors appointed by the Government who give of their time and expertise on a voluntary basis. Pobal's programmes are subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General, our funding Departments and the EU.

Pobal now manages or administers 24 programmes on behalf of the Government. In 2016, we administered €428 million of funding. Our role varies across the programme we manage but includes working with Departments on programme design, funding allocations, contract management, beneficiary support, training and quality improvement, monitoring, reporting and audit.

Pobal has been involved in the development of early years provision since the inception of the sector. Pobal worked with the then Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform from 1994 to develop community child care projects in disadvantaged areas through several initiatives. Pobal subsequently managed the EU co-funded Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-2006, the State's first national child care provision programme. We managed the State's National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2011. We have since then worked with local communities, with the early years sector, with county child care committees and with the relevant lead Departments to support the sector's development and delivery.

Pobal works on a wide range of early years initiatives on behalf of the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. Our roles include administration of the various targeted subsidy programmes such as the community child care subvention and the training and employment child care programme; management of the early childhood care and education scheme process, support and oversight of county child care committees; the learner funds, hosting of the better start quality initiative and of the access and inclusion model.

Pobal's role gives it access to clear information on the structures, activities, successes and challenges of the early years sector. We are keenly aware of the impact on parents of the availability, or unavailability of good quality, affordable child care. We are conscious of the financial restrictions within which the early years sector operates and of their impacts on it. We are conscious of the stresses placed on both parents and on the sector through the complexity of existing systems for managing provision.

The affordable child care scheme, from our viewpoint, is a valuable and substantial move forward which can assist all stakeholders in overcoming sets of existing challenges. The new offer of financial support to all parents significantly broadens the base of those who can access State child care support. Moving to a single mechanism for offering targeted subsidies will make it simpler for parents to understand their rights and for child care providers to manage their provision.

Pobal is conscious of the need to ensure, as we move from the current complex structures to a more logical and unified approach under the affordable child care scheme, that the process of transfer to the new programme is well planned and supported. Pobal will, in partnership with the Department, work to prepare and train providers to operate the necessary new systems. Pobal is also aware of the need to work to ensure these new systems reduce, to the greatest degree possible, the bureaucracy on parents and child care providers. We will work to keep these levels controlled, subject always to the need to ensure proper public accountability for funds.

Our experience of working on existing early years provision allows us clarity on the scale of challenge and complexity in completing this work. We are committed to ensure this experience and the lessons learned are brought to bear on scheme design and implementation. A key feature of this challenge for Pobal is moving from working only with child care providers to also working directly with the tens of thousands of parents who will access this scheme. Other important challenges are to be met in regard to ensuring appropriate, high quality and secure data systems, properly balancing accountability and simplicity and in preparing parents and the child care sector for the transition.

Since we were approached by the Department in October to take a role in the delivery of this scheme, our knowledge and understanding of the detailed challenges in the broad programme, as well as the necessary steps to meet them, have grown. We are particularly aware of the challenges presented by issues such as ensuring computations of family income are accurately addressed, where complex sets of situations will be encountered and will need to be dealt with.

Pobal has put in place a dedicated staff team to support the development of the new programme. This work includes developing new business processes to deliver the affordable child care scheme and an ICT system to support these processes. It also includes providing the sets of information, training and other materials needed to ensure parents and child care providers are prepared for the scheme's roll-out.

We are working closely with the Department of Children and Youth Affairs to ensure the affordable child care scheme programme is operational to a high quality standard and that the systems developed are helping to make this service a success for parents, children and providers.