Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

This investment is in addition to the substantial funding provided under the community child care subvention scheme, which ensures access at reduced rates to quality child care for disadvantaged and low-income families. Arrangements are well advanced. When the scheme was announced, some Deputies on the Opposition benches claimed the sector would not be in a position to supply the required number of places. However, with a month to go, approximately 98,000 places are being offered by applicants, which is well in excess of the requirements. Some Opposition Members also argued against the scheme being free and argued that commercial preschools should be allowed charge fees from parents in addition to the capitation received from the Government, thereby limiting the benefits of the scheme to those who could afford to pay those fees. I am glad to note the Government held firm on this issue and the scheme will be widely available to children of all backgrounds, making the benefits of quality preschool accessible for all.

I also was pleased the Government was able to introduce a higher capitation fee of €75 under the scheme for higher quality preschools with more highly qualified staff. These services also will be available to children regardless of parental means and this will incentivise the sector into further up-skilling of its workforce. Further good news was available to the sessional preschools, representing 65% of participating services, when the Valuation Office announced ECCE-funded sessional services would be exempt from local authority rates from January as a result of being wholly or mainly funded by the State.

The Government has directed huge resources at both child and family income supports and at child care provision. Since 2000, it has increased the rate of child benefit to €166 for the first and second children and €203 for the third and each subsequent child per month. Overall expenditure on child benefit has increased to more than €2.5 billion. Income thresholds have been improved for the family income supplement with an increase in the number of families benefitting from the allowance. Extra moneys have gone to qualified child increases to ensure welfare dependent families and those benefitting from family income supplement get more to support their children. The Government has created tens of thousands of extra child care places and will introduce a free preschool year for all children.

Taken together, it is evident from these initiatives that the priority the Government has given to children has been unprecedented. The halving of consistent child poverty between 2003 and 2008 is a clear testament to the fact that its policies have delivered major improvements for low-income families in particular.

Child benefit is paid to all families, not just to those on low incomes. We appreciate it is important to all mothers and to different families for different reasons. The Government has carefully considered all the issues around child benefit carefully which will be reflected in our budget announcement.

See this speech in context