Michael Finneran (Longford-Roscommon, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me the opportunity to discuss this matter on the Adjournment. I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, Deputy Parlon, who is here to represent the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and hear what I have to say on this important matter.

The Elphin playschool committee has been in existence since May 2004 and it applied for a grant at that time for equipment and staffing. The committee started providing a service in September 2004 and has continued to provide that service. There are currently 19 children in the facility. The unit caters mostly for children of one-parent families, those in social housing and those with income difficulties. Only four of the children have parents in full-time employment.

Despite having applied for a grant in May 2004 and having provided a service since September of that year, the Department has still not grant-aided this group. The only support the playschool has got is a grant of €10,000 from the children at risk fund and a grant of approximately €1,700 from the former Western Health Board, now the HSE, western area.

I find it difficult to understand that no progress has been made on the case of this community group in almost two years. That there is a need for this facility goes without saying. The local district nurse has identified that approximately 130 children under the age of five live in the Elphin area. Currently there are three staff in the facility, two of whom are paid from the limited fees paid by the families of the children. The third member of staff is an employee from the rural social scheme.

There appears to be a turf war going on in the Elphin area between the private provider who was grant-aided by the Department, and who got €50,000 some years ago, and the people providing the community facility. I favour the community facility on the basis that it is necessary on account of the low income level of the parents of the children and the difficulties faced by families in social housing.

I have tried to deal with the problem at local level but it has not been resolved. I was involved in the grant the unit got from the children at risk fund. This community facility will fold if it is not grant-aided and supported in the work it is trying to do. The seven-member committee has the support of the local community and provides a necessary service.

I understand from reports that difficulties have arisen, but I cannot understand why they cannot be resolved. Surely the representatives of ADM or the county child care committee and this group can get together and resolve the difficulties. The Minister in charge of this major fund has provided wonderful services throughout the country and I compliment him on the fine services that have been provided at over 30 locations in County Roscommon. However, Elphin is a small town that needs a community child care facility. It seems the difficulties in providing it cannot be resolved locally. Therefore, I ask that the Minister or an official of the Department try to resolve the problems. The children who need the service must come first. The difficulties between the various groups involved are only secondary.

The provision of community child care facilities for our children is paramount. The Minister must send instructions that the problems must be resolved and that those involved get on with the application for capital and staffing for Elphin playschool committee.

Tom Parlon (Laois-Offaly, Progressive Democrats)
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As Deputy Finneran knows, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Deputy McDowell, has responsibility for this area of Government policy, but his ministerial duties demand his presence elsewhere this evening.

Deputy Finneran has referred to a particular facility in Elphin, County Roscommon, and to the local county child care committee in Roscommon. In response to the Deputy, it is necessary to give a brief explanation of the equal opportunities child care programme, EOCP, for which the Minister has responsibility and to outline how this major Government investment programme in child care is implemented at local level, through the network of city and county child care committees.

The programme for Government and the progress of the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme 2000-06 are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing child care services to support the child care needs of the parents of Ireland, with particular emphasis on those who may be in employment or in education or training to prepare for employment. The EOCP has both an equal opportunities and a social inclusion perspective and aims to increase the supply of centre based child care places by 55%, or 31,300 additional places, by programme end. Current forecasts of impact suggest that it will ultimately create at least 39,000 places, including over 26,000 which have already been achieved.

The first meeting of the expert working group on child care established under Partnership 2000 was held within a month of the Government changeover in 1997 and all the evidence shows that child care has been high on our agenda since that time. The Government has consistently moved promptly, purposefully and proactively to facilitate the development of a top quality child care service across the length and breadth of the country to support parents, the economy and social inclusion through labour market participation.

Since the Government came into office for the second time, it has further increased the funding provision for the development of child care by over €60 million. This includes part of the additional capital provision of €90 million made available by the Minister for Finance in budget 2005 over the period 2005 to 2009 to develop child care infrastructure. It brings the allocation for the current programme to approximately €500 million.

Turning to the 33 city and county child care committees, these were set up in 2001 as companies limited by guarantee and supported by full-time paid staff. As part of the Government's overall strategic aim of improving co-operation and co-ordination of local development structures at county level, the CCCs operate as working groups of the city-county development boards and the chair of each CCC is also a member of the board. This linkage is important to the development of an integrated approach to child care needs in county development plans. Each committee is composed of representatives from the relevant statutory bodies, trade unions, employers and farmers, the national voluntary organisations, child care providers and parents. Committee membership is on a voluntary basis.

The 33 CCCs each have a five-year strategic plan for child care. These plans are based on a shared vision and analysis of the child care needs within the county. Each CCC draws up an annual action plan setting out its proposals for implementing the strategic plans in a given year. The action plans are appraised by Area Development Management Limited. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform sets the annual budget allocations. Each CCC reports on a quarterly basis to ADM on its quantitative and qualitative results and submits an annual report at the end of each year. The CCCs are represented on the National Childcare Co-ordinating Committee through two regional assembly representatives.

In 2005, the CCCs received over €7.6 million in funding to enable them to implement their action plans for the year. CCCs are charged with advancing child care service provision in their local areas. For example, they develop co-ordinated strategies for child care services in the relevant county, based on an analysis of needs, and oversee the effective implementation of such strategies against set targets. They are also responsible for developing an information strategy relating to the provision of child care in the county. The information strategies update and develop the baseline data provided in the national child care census. The CCCs also develop local countywide networks and initiatives which target all categories of child care providers. The role of the CCCs has evolved in a very short time. CCCs now play a key role at local level, as envisaged by the Partnership 2000 expert working group on child care. The effectiveness of that role has been endorsed by ADM in its annual survey of grant beneficiaries under the equal opportunities child care programme and by the external OECD panel of early childhood care and education experts, which reviewed the sector on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science.

I wish to speak about the project mentioned by Deputy Finneran. The Elphin community playgroup submitted capital and staffing grant applications under the equal opportunities child care programme to the child care directorate of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform in May 2004. The applications were forwarded to ADM, which is engaged by the Department to conduct detailed assessments of all grant applications under the programme. Each application undergoes a thorough assessment to ensure it meets the programme's funding criteria. As part of the assessment process, the view of the relevant CCC is sought on each application before ADM's recommendation is forwarded to the programme appraisal committee and a final decision is made by the Department. I understand there was extensive contact between the CCC in Roscommon and the group in question prior to and since the submission of the applications and that the CCC has informed the group that a number of aspects of the current proposal are problematic. I have been advised that, following a meeting between the CCC and the group on 15 September last, the group is considering the withdrawal of its current applications and submitting revised proposals with the assistance of the CCC. As the current applications are in the final stages of the assessment process, it would be premature of me to comment further.

Many child care services in County Roscommon have benefited from grant assistance under the equal opportunities child care programme, as Deputy Finneran has said. The Minister, Deputy McDowell, has announced funding of almost €6.3 million for child care services in the county, thereby facilitating the creation of 360 new child care places and supporting 610 existing places across the county. Since budget 2005 was announced in December 2004, the Minister has announced a record allocation of €112 million in capital funding for community based, not-for-profit groups. The availability of additional capital funding allows the Minister to make further capital grant assistance available to groups which address significant child care service gaps, if the proposed project represents good value for money. It is fair to emphasise that the equal opportunities child care programme has been central to the recent development of child care services in Ireland. Such services will continue to flourish under the careful stewardship of the Government.