Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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This matter relates to several crèche closures which are preventable but also illogical because the Minister, Deputy Frances Fitzgerald, has it within her capacity to ensure proper funding is given to these community crèches which are run under the guise of the vocational education committees. These crèches provide child care places for young people who have returned to college or who are availing of further education. The three in Dublin are in Ballyfermot, Cabra and a brand new facility in Whitehall which opened only last year at a cost of more than €1 million. It is illogical that they would be even under threat of closure.

If these crèches close some of the people in the further education field who are trying to break the cycle by getting themselves a certificate or a degree which will give them access to the workplace, and much emphasis has been placed on transition and ensuring people have activation and the opportunity to go back into the workforce or at least access work, will end up dropping out of the system because they cannot afford the cost of child care. One of the reasons they chose those colleges was because of the child care facilities available. In Ballyfermot it will mean the loss of 23 places, 14 in Cabra and 34 in Whitehall. Other students, some of whom are in Youthreach, depend on these facilities also. If the Minister is not willing to withdraw the cut there is a danger of all of those students dropping out or at least being severely punished financially.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I am glad this matter, which I submitted last Thursday, has been selected for discussion. Last Wednesday, I was contacted by the Ballyfermot College of Further Education which shortly beforehand had been informed, in an underhanded way when students were taking examinations, that the college crèche would close due to lack of funding. This decision contradicts the announcements the Government made only two weeks ago that it wanted to introduce Scandinavian type child care services and had decided not to proceed in the next budget with a proposed measure to reduce the threshold for lone parent's payment to seven years.

The closure of crèches by the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee will result in the loss of 73 child care places in Ballyfermot, Cabra and Whitehall. Crèches in vocational education colleges in counties Cork, Limerick and Carlow will also close, while crèches in ten of the 30 VEC colleges are threatened with closure. Child care provision is part and parcel of the integration of communities. Lone parents need crèche supports to access education. One Ballyfermot college student, whose partner's twins attend the crèche, indicated he will be unable to continue his studies without the valuable support of the crèche. His hopes had been dashed, he said, adding, "We just cannot afford child care in this country." The Government must address this problem. I hope the Minister of State will indicate that funds will be provided to ensure the closures do not proceed.

Deputy Ó Snodaigh referred to a state-of-the-art VEC crèche in Whitehall which was opened only last year by the then President, Mary McAleese. Will the Government send President Michael D. Higgins to officially close it in June?

Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle for the opportunity to raise this important issue. I was very concerned to hear recently that the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee is to close three crèches at the end of June, including one in Ballyfermot College of Further Education. The facilities in question play a most important role in ensuring access to education. They make high quality child care available to students who otherwise would not be in a position to attend college. The provision of child care makes access to education a reality for many young women and the City of Dublin VEC deserves particular credit for its work in establishing crèches. As a board member of the VEC from 1991 to 2010, I saw at first hand how it consistently adapted and improved to meet the needs of students. As the profile of students changed, so too did the services provided. The opening of the crèche in Ballyfermot college was a prime example of this.

The provision of child care services did not happen overnight but came about as a result of an extensive campaign by many hardworking individuals. Such facilities are a mark of the commitment of vocational education committees to their students and a desire to create opportunities in education. Students must remain the priority and we must strive to ensure the crèche service continues. If, despite the best efforts of all involved, the VEC cannot continue to provide the service, we must ensure an alternative is found. To this end, engagement is needed between various partners to ensure a solution can be reached. I have spoken to a number of people about this issue in recent days and I understand engagement may be under way. This service must continue and I urge the Minister to play his part, to engage in this process and to ensure suitable arrangements can be made.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputies Aengus Ó Snodaigh, Joan Collins and Michael Conaghan for raising this issue. I understand the importance of assisting parents to participate in further education and training courses by supporting child care provision. The child care support that has been provided in the crèches in question can be made available in other local childcare services so parents will not lose out.

I propose to explain the background to this issue. Until September 2010, my Department provided funding to vocational education committees and FÁS to provide child care support for participants in a range of further education and training courses, either by VECs in crèches they own or by providing a weekly subvention to parents who would source child care locally. This subvention was set at a maximum of €63.50 per week. Alongside this scheme, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs provided support of up to €100 per week under the community child care subvention, CCS, scheme to certain eligible participants.

With the different schemes in operation, inequalities and inefficiencies arose. For this reason, as part of budget 2010, a decision was taken to explore the potential for rationalising the child care support schemes in operation under the CCS framework to deliver improved supports in a more efficient, transparent and equitable way. Following discussions, the child care education and training support, CETS, scheme was established from September 2010. Under CETS, community and commercial crèches, including VEC owned crèches, can tender to provide free child care places for participants in a range of further education and training courses. VECs and FÁS advise the Department of Children and Youth Affairs on demand and the Department contracts with successful tenderers to provide the required places. Since its inception, weekly subventions under the CETS scheme have been €170 per child per week, an increase from the previous maximum level. However, from September 2012, this figure is being reduced to €145 per place and crèches may seek a contribution of up to €25 per week from participants. This still represents a significant improvement in the level of support available.

A number of VECs own crèches and some have indicated that these may not be financially viable under the new arrangements in the long term. This is mainly because their operating costs are higher than those of commercial or community crèches, which are maintaining financial sustainability under the new model. In 2010 and 2011, my Department provided additional grant aid to VECs, including City of Dublin VEC, to assist in the transition to the new scheme, but this is not sustainable in the long term, as VECs were informed from the outset. My Department is engaging with the VECs which are experiencing difficulties, the Irish Vocational Education Association and relevant employee representative organisations to resolve any issues locally.

Under the CETS programme, the places that were provided in VEC crèches can be made available to alternative local child care services, thus ensuring there is no reduction in the number of places available to parents participating in further education and training.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I ask Deputies to pay attention as this is an important issue.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister of State is not living in the real world if he believes alternative child care services are available locally. In Ballyfermot, for instance, the area I know best, another crèche is under threat of closure for an unrelated reason. This will reduce further the number of spaces available in the area where there are already waiting lists in most cases. I do not know where students at Ballyfermot College of Further Education will be able to source local, affordable child care places. This gives a lie to the Minister of State's contention that students will be able to source child care places elsewhere. The proposed closure is a backward step.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I call again on Deputies to pay attention as this is an important issue.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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It is illogical and should be reversed immediately. Changes should take place over time rather than at the end of a college term. It should be noted that Ballyfermot College of Further Education has produced Oscar winners. The Government, by its actions, may deny future Oscar nominees an opportunity to complete their education because the closure of the college's crèche threatens to cause many of the students who avail of the service to drop out of education.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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We heard wise words from Deputy Ó Snodaigh. The crèche places available at VEC colleges are for people the Government has said need child care facilities.

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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I ask Deputies for the last time to pay attention to the speakers. They are raising a very important issue.

Joan Collins (Dublin South Central, People Before Profit Alliance)
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The Government should be proactive and immediately indicate that the closures will not proceed. The colleges state it costs €234 per week to provide child care for one child. Following the cut from €170 to €145 in the subvention, the VECs sought to part-fund places but are unable to continue to provide child care support. Three crèches will close in Dublin at the end of June. I call on the Minister of State to be serious about this and make sure that those child care places are in the colleges next September. Will he send out the new President officially to close the crèche in Whitehall, as his predecessor opened it only a year ago?

Michael Conaghan (Dublin South Central, Labour)
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The VECs have made further education a reality in this country for all social classes, and that has been a resounding success. Supports like those we are talking about is a vital ingredient in making and keeping it accessible. I believe that arrangements must be made. I have spoken to some potential partners already about this, and the Minister of State can turn those arrangements into a reality by engaging with people who are already sitting down to find a way of ensuring the high participation levels among students in all social classes going to colleges of further education will continue. We must ensure that they continue, and I look to the Minister of State for that to happen.

Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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The Department readily acknowledges the value of providing child care for people who wish to gain access to adult and further education opportunities. It is regrettable that certain crèches need to close, but ultimately it is a decision for each VEC, having regard to the level of funding available to it. Both community based and privately funded crèches in these areas are able to sustain a child care facility using that grant that is available. I just wonder why that cannot happen within a VEC setting. Where the VECs take a decision to close a crèche, eligible staff who operate in that crèche will be redeployed or offered voluntary redundancy as appropriate, but places provided in that crèche under the CETS can be made available to other local child care services. Therefore, it is not expected that there will be any significant loss in places as a result of the closure of these crèches, and little or no impact on lone parents in disadvantaged areas who are returning to education.

A number of VECs received a capital grant from Pobail for the building of specific child care centres, and I understand from the VECs that Pobail has advised that the grant is subject to a fixed contract. Should the VEC not be in a position to complete the contract, there is a possibility to engage in a process of decommitment and recovery. There is also a provision for the change in operation of the facility, with the permission of Pobail, for example to transfer the building and the crèche operation to an existing local community organisation, which would operate under the aegis of the county child care committee.