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

There is the restoration of capitation rates to pre-2012 levels from September 2016.

The additional capitation for preschool providers was recently announced as part of the suite of Government-funded supports for children with a disability accessing the early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme, and I know that is something the Deputy would be supportive of. There is funding of €1.5 million for the Learner Fund, which will allow up to a thousand early years practitioners to undertake and complete the level six qualification, which is a requirement for preschool leaders. There is funding of €4 million for early years capital 2016 programme. Efforts are being made to streamline applications for planning permission for preschool providers who wish to extend capacity to meet the increased demands of the ECCE programme. Officials of my Department have already met with officials in the Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government on this. They have committed to publishing further information which will assist preschool providers and local authorities with planning permission applications and queries.

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