Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

Some €1 billion has been invested over the last decade in developing a child care infrastructure under the national child care investment programme and, prior to that, the equal opportunities child care programme, which was co-funded by the European Union. The early childhood care and education programme, ECCE, is open to all children aged between three years and three months and four years and six months in September of each year, with a fee paid to child care providers in respect of each child. There are some 61,000 places being provided under the ECCE programme, 17,000 by community providers and 44,000 by private providers. The community child care subvention programme funds some 1,000 community-based non-profit child care facilities nationwide to enable them to charge reduced child care fees to disadvantaged and low-income families that avail of their services. Parents in receipt of social welfare income support are subsidised. The child care education and training scheme is implemented by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on behalf of FÁS and the VECs, and child care places under this programme are capped at 2,800. There is also an after-school care programme in which more than 15,000 places are available.

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