John Browne (Wexford, Fianna Fail)

I apologise for the absence of the Minister but I assure Deputy Boyle the views he expressed will be passed on. I thank the Deputy for raising the matter and for giving me the opportunity to update the House on the important issues of child care and its development in Cork city and county.

Child care is an important priority for the Government and it has increased funding for this important sector on a number of occasions since it first made commitments to the broad child care sector in 1998. The equal opportunities child care programme, EOCP, 2000-06 is a key element of the national development plan and its original funding package of €318 million set as recently as 2000 has increased to €499 million to be spent within the life of the national development plan or before the end of 2007.

The funding package has increased because the Government is aware of the importance of providing child care to support the economy and to support social inclusion through labour market participation. The Government has listened to requests from many groups, such as those in Cork, seeking to build child care facilities to meet local needs. The Government has responded to those requests by making more capital funding available immediately rather than awaiting a follow-on programme to build on the momentum which has been generated by the EOCP in community groups throughout Ireland.

Capital and staffing grant applications for funding under the EOCP from groups in Cork were submitted to the Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform. The EOCP is a seven-year development programme which aims to increase the availability and quality of child care to support parents in employment, education and training.

The demand for capital grant assistance from groups such as those in Cork was such that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform considered it important to increase the capital provision for the current programme. Following discussions with his colleagues, particularly the Minister for Finance, additional capital funding of €90 million was made available over the period 2005-09 in the context of the 2005 budget. Of this amount, €50 million is being made available under the current programme and the remaining €40 million will flow under the next phase of the post-2006 EOCP. The total funding available for the programme is €499.3 million and includes an increased provision of €205 million for capital developments.

Efforts are being made to achieve a good geographical spread through the appraisal and approvals process. Cork city and county has been approved more than €30 million under the child care programme with 134 capital grants approved to establish either new or quality enhanced community-based not-for-profit or private child care facilities. The county has also benefited from 112 staffing grants to community groups that have a focus on disadvantage. This funding to child care providers in Cork city and county will lead to the creation of more than 3,400 new child care places and to the support of more than 3,100 existing places. Cork city and county child care committees also receive annual funding to support their developmental work.

The Deputy referred to an announcement by the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform of an allocation of almost €2.5 million in February 2005, which did not include any allocation for the greater Cork area. However, the Deputy may also be aware that the Minister announced to community-based not-for-profit groups in December 2004 an allocation of almost €35 million in capital funding, which included an allocation of almost €3.2 million to groups in Cork city and county.

The availability of the additional capital funding will enable the Minister to make further capital grant assistance available over the coming months and years to groups which address significant child care service gaps and where the project proposal represents good value for money. In light of this, groups in Cork have been advised that while their projects were not prioritised for immediate funding in December 2004, they are being reconsidered with all the other applications on hand. The Minister hopes to make further significant capital commitments during 2005 and thereafter to good projects which link with the aims of the programme in supporting child care needs of parents in employment, education and training, offering value for money and filling a service gap in their local area.

Expenditure under the programme covers the period to end-2007 and must take place in a planned manner as must grant approvals to ensure that the programme can meet its financial commitments at all times. Every county has benefited from considerable support for new child care facilities under the EOCP. In all, funding to create some 33,254 new places has been approved to date. This will, when fully drawn down, bring an increase of nearly 60% in the number of centre based child care places throughout Ireland since the start of the programme in 2000, well ahead of original expectations.

The Minister understands from the Area Development Management review that support allocated to the city and county of Cork under the EOCP compares very positively with other counties in the southern and eastern region. The EOCP is the Government's response to the need to develop a child care infrastructure to support parents. There has been significant progress in creation of a good child care infrastructure and the Minister hopes the Deputy will acknowledge the progress made to date in the city and county of Cork and will be reassured that every step is being taken to further develop services in the area as expeditiously as possible.

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