James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to answer the Deputy and outline the Government's position on child care. I thank him for his question.

High quality and well structured investment in the early years of a child's life is widely recognised as being one of the most strategic investments we can make with public funding. Children are at a critical stage in their development in their early years and we have a golden opportunity to set them on the right path for their future - for all of our futures - by investing wisely in them at that stage. They are not the only beneficiaries. When they are given opportunities to develop to their full potential, we all benefit - parents, families, communities, wider society and the economy. It is because the Government recognised the critical importance of investment in children's early years that we worked hard to protect expenditure in this area, despite the dire economic circumstances that we had inherited. The Department of Children and Youth Affairs invests more than €250 million in child care each year. This is before spending on children by other Departments is taken into consideration.

The Government is well aware that Ireland's investment in this area is lower than in many other OECD countries and that parents face considerable difficulties in accessing quality and affordable child care. It is constrained in its ability to increase this investment significantly, as the recovery in the public finances is not yet complete and resources remain limited. Furthermore, I am strongly committed to ensuring every euro we invest in children is invested wisely. This is the area in which we get the greatest return for every euro we invest.

A number of programmes are in place to support parents with child care costs, the most significant of which in terms of State investment is the ECCE programme. This universal programme provides for one free preschool year for all eligible children before commencing primary school. More than €170 million is invested in the programme annually, reducing the child care costs of parents by more than €2,300 per child. Approximately 67,000 children benefit from the guaranteed investment for which the programme provides.

The community child care subvention programme funds community not-for-profit child care services to allow them to provide quality child care at reduced rates for disadvantaged and low income working parents. More than 25,000 children benefit from this programme annually.

A number of further initiatives have been introduced under the training and employment child care programmes to support parents who are participating in training or educational courses in order to return to the workforce. They include the child care education and training support programme which provides subsidised child care places for qualifying trainees or students for the duration of their courses. The after school child care programme provides after school care for primary school children for certain categories of working parents for one year. Last year it was enhanced in a number of ways, including by providing funding for a pick-up service at no extra cost to parents where providers were in a position to do so.

Community employment schemes often provide the first opportunity for parents to engage in the workforce. The community employment child care programme subsidises the cost of child care for participating parents. Following a number of enhancements, the programme now includes an after-school child-care option at a weekly cost of €15 for parents of primary school children, as well as a part-time day-care option for up to ten weeks during school holidays.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has been working closely with the Department of Social Protection to ensure that these initiatives provide the maximum benefit to parents in an economy that is now delivering an increased number of work opportunities.

The current level of State investment in child care, at more than €250 million per year, is very substantial. To ensure that all the benefits of child care investments are fully realised, public investment in child care must be evidence-based and strategically co-ordinated.

In order to develop a coherent whole-of-Government approach to child care investment, I have established an interdepartmental group to examine and develop options for future investment in child care, both in the early years and for children of school-going age. The work of the group will be informed by documented best practice and current policy commitments, and through consultation with relevant stakeholders.

On 31 March, an open policy debate was attended by 40 invited representatives including parents, child care providers, academics, child-care committees, and non-governmental organisations. A range of views on future policy directions were put forward, and a number of options for future investment were examined and discussed. A report of the debate is currently being compiled and will be published in due course.

An online consultation process was also provided for stakeholders with an interest in the field, including policy-makers, practitioners, providers, advocates and academics, as well as one specifically for parents and guardians. Almost 400 submissions were made by stakeholders and nearly 1,000 submissions were made by parents and guardians. These submissions will feed into the deliberations of the interdepartmental group. I take this opportunity to thank all who made submissions for doing so.

I have asked the group to consider a wide range of options, which must be rigorously analysed and properly costed, to develop sensible solutions to the challenges families face, rather than an expensive shopping list of "like to haves". I have asked that the final report of the group be submitted to me by the summer - next month in fact - to inform Government deliberations on this important area.

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