Pat Gallagher (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I apologise on behalf of the Minister of State with responsibility for children, Deputy Brendan Smith, who is unavoidably absent as he had another engagement outside the city in an area under his responsibility. He asked me to convey his apologies to Deputy Naughten.

To respond to the Deputy, it is necessary first to give a brief explanation of the equal opportunities child care programme and the national child care investment programme, for which the Minister for Health and Children is responsible. The programme for Government and the progress of the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-06, EOCP, and the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-10, NCIP, represent confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing child care services to support the child care needs of the parents of Ireland. The EOCP, which has now concluded, had both an equal opportunities and a social inclusion perspective and aimed to increase the supply of centre-based child care places by 55%, or an additional 31,300 places, by the end of the programme. This target was exceeded, with some 39,000 additional places created by the programme.

In order to build on the success of the EOCP, the Government introduced the NCIP to cover the period 2006 to 2010. This programme will build on the success of the EOCP and incorporates a number of key objectives. It will increase the supply and quality of early childhood care and education services across the board. It will support families in breaking the cycle of disadvantage and provide a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of child care that is centred on the needs of the child. The decision of the Government to create a major new investment programme immediately, rather than waiting until the previous programme had expired, is evidence of the Government's commitment to drive progress in the child care field.

The NCIP has a funding allocation of €575 million and aims to create an additional 50,000 child care places. It is expected that approximately 22,000 of these places will be in the private sector and 28,000 in the community and not-for-profit sector. A total of 20% of the overall places will be for children in the three to four year age group and will provide an early childhood care and education focus. When considered with the other child care measures introduced by this Government, such as increases in paid and unpaid maternity leave and the introduction of the early childhood supplement, now worth €1,100 per year per child under six, and tax relief for childminders, no one can doubt that the Government is giving this issue the priority it deserves.

I turn now to the matter in question this evening.

The Páistí le Chéile project in County Roscommon was a pilot——

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