Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

It would be inappropriate to support a second initiative in an area which provides a similar service to the same target group.

Funding has been committed in 2008 to the eight teenage parenting support projects as a specific gender element of the school completion programme under DEIS in preventing early school leaving among teenage mothers. Links have been established between local school completion projects in these areas, assisted by the national co-ordination team and the teenage parenting support initiative co-ordinators. The aim of these projects is to enable young women who are pregnant and young mothers to stay in second level education and progress to third level education or training. The project does this by providing individual support, information and grinds where necessary. Young people participating in teen parenting support programmes are targeted in school, out of school and in higher and further education, giving them the opportunity to reach their full potential through continued participation in education and training. This will improve their life opportunities and reduce the likelihood of the young family experiencing poverty and social exclusion and being long-term dependants on State support.

Single parents are target-groups of two further education programmes, the back to education initiative and vocational training opportunities scheme. Grants towards the cost of child care are given to VECs to be used to assist with the provision of child care support for learners in the vocational training opportunities scheme, Youthreach, senior traveller training centres and back to education initiative. The aim of this support is to attract people whose attendance is currently prevented by child care responsibilities to enrol on these programmes. Parents and guardians generally may avail of these grants.

Greater affordability of child care, linked to the creation of additional child care places, has been a key principle in the previous and current national development plans. The Government has provided unprecedented levels of funding for child care in recent years. A sum of €499.3 million was allocated to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, EOCP, 2000-2006 and some 41,000 places will have been created by the time the programme finishes.

Child care provision will continue to attract substantial investment under the new National Child Care Investment Programme 2006-2010. A sum of €575 million has been allocated to the new programme, which will be administered by the Office of the Minister for Children and aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality child care services by supporting the creation of an additional 50,000 places. The Government also introduced the early childhood supplement of €1,000 per child under six years to help parents with child care costs.

The Government discussion paper, Proposals for Supporting Lone Parents, put forward proposals for the expanded availability and range of education and training opportunities for lone parents; the extension of the national employment action plan to focus on lone parents; focused provision of child care; improved information services for lone parents; and the introduction of a new social assistance payment for low income families with young children.

A sub-group of the senior officials group on social inclusion, on which my Department is represented, is working on an implementation plan to progress the non-income recommendations. Work on the development of this implementation plan is progressing. Issues, including access to child care support, education, training and activation measures, continue to be discussed with the relevant Departments and agencies.

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