Tony Killeen (Clare, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, has responsibility for this area of Government policy but his ministerial duties demand his presence elsewhere this evening. Deputy Connolly has referred to a particular facility in Cootehill, County Cavan. To respond to the Deputy it is necessary first to give a brief explanation of the equal opportunities childcare programme, EOCP, for which the Minister, Deputy McDowell, has responsibility.

The programme for Government and the progress of the equal opportunities child care programme 2000-06 are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing services to support the child care needs of the parents of Ireland with a particular emphasis on those who may be in employment, or in education or training to prepare for employment. The EOCP has both an equal opportunities and a social inclusion perspective and aims to increase the supply of centre-based child care places by 55%, or 31,300 additional places, by the end of the programme. Current forecasts of impact suggest that it will ultimately create at least 39,300 places, including over 26,000 which have already been achieved.

The first meeting of the expert working group on child care established under Partnership 2000 was held within a month of the Government changeover in 1997 and all the evidence shows that child care has been high on our agenda since that time. The Government has consistently moved promptly, purposefully and proactively to facilitate the development of a top quality child care service throughout the country to support parents, the economy and social inclusion through labour market participation. Since the Government was re-elected in 2002, it has further increased the funding provision for the development of child care by over €60 million. This includes part of the additional capital provision of €90 million made available by the Minister for Finance in budget 2005 over the period 2005-09 to develop child care infrastructure, and brings the allocation for the present programme to almost €500 million.

The Deputy may be aware that €190,461 in staffing grant assistance under the EOCP was approved for Cootehill Community Resource House in July 2001. Further staffing grant assistance of €124,500 has been approved to cover the period to the end of 2007. The funding approved to the end of 2007 was considered appropriate for the level of service being provided by the group.

I understand that the group has recently contacted the child care directorate of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform to appeal the level of funding approved. This appeal has been forwarded to Pobal, formally known as Area Development Management Limited, which is engaged by the Department to carry out detailed assessments of all EOCP grant applications. The appeal will undergo a thorough assessment by Pobal prior to its recommendation being forwarded to the programme appraisal committee and a decision being made by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. Pending the outcome of this process, it would be premature of me to comment further on the group's appeal.

Many child care services throughout County Cavan have benefited from grant assistance under the EOCP. To date, the Minister has announced funding of over €8.3 million for child care in County Cavan, which is supporting the creation of 677 new child care places and 783 existing places throughout the county. The Deputy will be aware of the role of the Minister of State, Deputy Brendan Smith, in ensuring that Cavan gets every opportunity to benefit fully from the scheme.

Since budget 2005 was announced in December 2004, the Minister, Deputy McDowell, has announced a record allocation of some €150 million in capital funding for community-based, not-for-profit groups. The availability of the additional capital funding enables the Minister to make further capital grant assistance available to groups which address significant child care service gaps and where the project proposal represents good value for money. It is only fair to emphasise that the equal opportunities child care programme has been central to the recent development of child care in Ireland, which will continue to flourish under the careful stewardship of the Government.

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