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

I thank the Deputy. The national childcare scheme is fundamental to delivering quality, accessible, affordable childcare to families throughout Ireland.

I am pleased that we are making good progress on the development of the scheme. Many of the major elements are now in place in preparation for the scheme’s opening in October 2019.

Following the enactment of the Childcare Support Bill 2017 last year, detailed secondary legislation and policy guidelines are being finalised for my approval and signature.

I have formally appointed Pobal as scheme administrator under section 3 of the Act. This has enabled Pobal to open a parent phone line. The phone line is now available to assist parents or guardians with any queries on the new national childcare scheme. Providers have been invited to sign up for the scheme and I am delighted that, to date, almost 2,300 have done so.

A national communications campaign is under way. As part of this, my Department launched a dedicated website, which has received more than 175,000 hits, and we have distributed more than 60,000 parent information booklets nationwide. It also delivered a nationwide training programme to more than 3,500 early years professionals.

In September and October, my Department will undertake further training for providers and will run a large multimedia information campaign to ensure that parents are aware of their entitlements.

The development of the scheme is highly complex and has thrown up challenges. That was expected with a scheme of this size, which will benefit many families throughout Ireland.

We are designing a highly innovative supporting IT system for the scheme so that we have the option of a user-friendly, paperless, automated assessment process for parents. While the main IT system to deal with online applications is largely built, work is continuing on the supporting structures to deal with postal applications. With this in mind, the experts overseeing development of the scheme have recommended a phased launch approach but in accordance with the expert advice, we are working towards delivery on time in October. The paper-based system will be available in January for those who do not wish to apply online.

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