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

The Government remains committed to a sustainable and secure recovery based on strong economic growth and a determination not to repeat the mistakes of the past. It also is right that the people start to see the tangible benefits of the recovery. It is with these twin priorities in mind that the Government has framed its budgetary choices this year. In so doing, it remains acutely aware of the need to walk a narrow path between the benefits arising from a fledgling recovery and the danger of overplaying our hand and finding ourselves back in troubled waters.

The 2016 Estimate for my Department once again demonstrates that this Government is strongly committed to delivering important reform and service developments to support Ireland's children and families. I remain fully committed to ensuring real reform of child welfare and protection services and making this country a better and safer place to be a child or young person.

I am pleased to announce the allocation of significant additional funding for children and young people's services under budget 2016. The gross amount of funding for my Department in 2016 will be €1.137 billion, which is an increase of €117.4 million, or 11.4%, over the allocation for 2015. There are two major elements to the additional resources in my Department's Vote for 2016, including an €85 million package of investment in child care and substantially increased resources for Tusla to place it on a firm financial footing and enable it to meet its obligations to children.

The first step child care package announced in the budget is a significant step towards more affordable, accessible and higher quality child care in Ireland. It is based closely on the approach proposed in the interdepartmental group report which I published in July. Affordability, accessibility and quality are the holy trinity of good child care provision, and each are at the heart of this €85 million child care package. The suite of measures included in this package are in line with the recommendations of the interdepartmental group on future investment in child care, informed by research and evidence of best practice and reflect the general view of key stakeholders, including parents and child care providers. The measures provided include an expansion of free preschool provision by extension of the age range for children accessing the scheme. The maximum number of weeks of free preschool education to which a child will be entitled will increase. The precise period of this extension will vary for each child depending on his or her month of birth and the age at which he or she makes the transition to primary school. For example, a January born child who starts primary school at four years of age will be entitled to up to 50 weeks of free preschool provision. If this child starts primary school at five years of age, he or she will be entitled to up to 88 weeks provision. It is estimated that on average children will avail of up to 23 additional weeks of free preschool provision under this budget measure.

This measure will not only support better outcomes for children by extending the duration of preschool education and encouraging later school starts but it also makes an important contribution to reducing child care costs for parents. This extended free preschool provision will increase current investment of €172.4 million in the ECCE programme by €47 million in 2016. These costs include full restoration to capitation payments to providers to pre-2012 levels from September 2016. The child care package also provides greater guarantees that free preschool provision can be accessed by all.

Prior to budget 2016 various practical efforts were made to support children with a disability in accessing the ECCE programme. These include more flexible rules regarding access to the free preschool year; the provision on a limited ad hocbasis by the HSE of funding towards the cost of preschool support assistants in some areas; elective modules on special needs in mandatory courses for early years practitioners; and various initiatives by city and county child care committees. Despite these efforts, it is accepted that ECCE supports for children with a disability could be further improved. Under budget 2016, a suite of supports to help children with a disability to participate fully in, and reap the benefits of, preschool education under the ECCE programme are being introduced. These include a number of universal supports for all children with a disability, including funding towards the ongoing professional development of early years practitioners and a number of more targeted supports such as grants for equipment, appliances and minor alterations and access to therapeutic intervention for children with complex needs arising from a disability. These supports, which will be phased in from next year, will cost €15 million in 2016. Full year cost from 2017 is estimated to be in the region of €33 million.

The package also provides for additional community child care subvention, CCS, programme places and a move towards consolidating all targeted child care support programmes. The CCS programme traditionally provided funding to community child care services to enable them to provide quality child care at reduced rates to disadvantaged and low income working parents. Parents qualify as disadvantaged or low income on the basis of means-tested entitlements. In the case of full day care, parents qualifying for the higher rate of subvention under the CCS programme can have up to €95 per week deducted from the overall charge for child care in the participating child care facility. Prior to budget 2016, approximately 25,000 children were catered for under the CCS programme each year in almost 900 community child care services. The programme had an annual budget of €45 million.

Under budget 2016, an additional 3,200 full-time equivalent places, or up to 8,000 children based on average uptake, will be made available from early 2016. Critically, for the first time, these places will be made available through community and, where demand exists, private child care services. These additional CCS places will cost approximately €16 million in 2016. In addition to this, I have secured a small resource of €800,000 to allow important work to commence on consolidating existing targeted child care support programmes, including the CCS programme. It is envisaged that, in line with recommendations set out in the interdepartmental report on future investment in child care, a new simplified targeted child care support programme will be available through community and private child care providers from 2017.

After-school services have developed in a very ad hocfashion and it is acknowledged that a more standardised approach suitable for school-going children is necessary. Parents working full-time need the confidence that there is a reliable, quality and affordable place for their children after school. This child care package includes funding to administer a programme of capital grants, undertake research with children on after-school child care, which is critically important, and develop quality standards for after-school child care. It is vitally important that we continue to work in partnership with the child care sector to constantly enhance the quality of child care provision. Deliverance of the child care reforms proposed will require a programme of concerted action and investment over a number of years. The investment required is considerable. The OECD reports that Ireland's investment in this area currently represents 0.5% of GDP. This compares to an average across the OECD of 0.8% and UNICEF's international benchmark of 1% of GDP. Based on current GDP, every 0.1% increase in public expenditure on child care requires additional investment of over €180 million. The measures announced in this budget alone will increase public expenditure on child care by almost 0.1% of GDP. This is a solid start and a direction of travel I think most Deputies would agree is appropriate.

I have been able to increase the allocation to Tusla by €38 million to allow it address unallocated cases in respect of children in need of a social worker. A further €27 million is being provided by way of Supplementary Estimate to allow Tusla clear the decks in terms of legacy issues and over-runs from this year. Funding is also being provided for a national out-of-hours social service to support An Garda Síochána and a dedicated intervention team for urgent situations and improvements to Tusla's organisational structure.

I am also pleased that we are providing an additional €1.1 million in current funding and an additional €2.250 million in capital funding for youth organisations. This additional funding will support the delivery of a range of youth work programmes and services for all young people. Youth work programmes and services are delivered to some 380,000 young people by 30 national youth organisations and other local youth services supported by 40,000 volunteers in communities throughout the country. On my behalf and on behalf of the Government, I thank those organisations and, in particular, the volunteers without whom we could not achieve and progress our goals.

Additional funding of €1.6 million is also being provided to the Irish Youth Justice Services in respect of the running costs of the new national children's detention facility in Oberstown. This funding will also support a bail support scheme designed to provide therapy services in the community to assist children in adhering to bail conditions. The overall objective of this scheme is to reduce demand for detention school places where possible and minimise as far as possible the remand of children in custody. Additional resources are also being provided for the Adoption Authority of Ireland and the Office of the Ombudsman for Children.

There is no doubt but that 2016 will be another busy year for my Department and its agencies. I believe that the significant additional resources I have secured for 2016 will allow us to build on the hard work and effort by all involved in working with children and families, both State and voluntary organisations, to deliver on this Government's commitment to reform fundamentally the delivery of child and family services and secure better outcomes and brighter futures for our children.

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