Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am very pleased that from September 2017, a new affordable child care scheme will be introduced to provide financial support for parents towards the cost of child care. Approximately 79,000 children will benefit from the new scheme in its first year, including 25,000 children who will benefit from the universal subsidy. An estimated 54,000 will benefit from the targeted subsidies, including 31,500 children who already receive support under the current targeted subsidy schemes and 22,500 new beneficiaries. Some of the new beneficiaries will already be availing of formal child care but without any financial support from the State at present.

My Department commissions an annual survey of child care providers in which capacity is a key area. As of April 2016, there were up to 20,000 vacancies in child care providers nationwide. However, the issue of capacity in the sector is complex and cannot be understood by reference to current vacancies alone. Some services, depending on their infrastructure, are able to increase and decrease capacity in response to demand through the recruitment of additional staff or adaptation of available space, while other providers are in a position to extend premises or move to a larger premises. The Department receives several hundred applications from new providers wishing to enter into contract every year, while a lower number of providers close. While there is no clear evidence to suggest a lack of capacity for the new affordable child care scheme at this stage, my Department will continue to carefully monitor trends in this regard. I would also like to highlight that capital funding for the early years sector of €4.5 million was made available in budget 2017, which will support strategic investment in capacity.

Finally, in order to meet the needs of parents whose preference is to use a childminder, and to build capacity to cater for increased demand in future years, my Department has commenced talks with Childminding Ireland in recent months to explore a number of options around how quality can be assured within the childminding sector.

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