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

Of course I will and I would be happy to pursue that. That would be a good way to proceed. Deputy Ó Laoghaire raised questions relating to the sustainability fund. With regard to the first tranche of money from the sustainability fund, 47 providers have signed and returned contracts in respect of the phase, with each being paid approximately €2,000. The city and county child care committees are working with a further 67 services across the country to make submissions for once-off payment under the second phase, as the Deputy noted in respect to Cork services, with an average payment that will probably be approximately €15,000. It is really important to identify that. To date, four services have submitted complete applications for phase two, with a further 17 expected to reach the stage shortly.

The Deputy indicates some of the services in Cork are finding the requirements for additional documentation a bit onerous. I will take that back to the Department. My understanding is that with payment from the fund we are trying to enable services to move to a place where they can be sustainable after the money is spent. Perhaps that is related to some of the requirements for documentation. I will certainly look into it.

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