Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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4. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide a progress report on the new after-school childcare scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22027/13]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As part of budget 2013, I was pleased to announce, together with my colleague, the Minister for Social Protection, a new after-school child care initiative which will be targeted at low income parents availing of employment opportunities. As we know, lack of access to affordable, quality child care is a significant barrier to many low income and disadvantaged families seeking to avail of work opportunities. This initiative will provide an important support measure to enable parents to avail of job opportunities. This is in line with the Government's overall strategy to support parents of low income families to take up employment and demonstrates the way Departments are working together to deliver the Government's agenda on promoting employment and supporting children's development.

This initiative is expected to receive full year funding of €14 million. It is a new budget line that was agreed last year. It will have €14 million to provide 6,000 after-school places for children attending primary school to support parents to take up employment. This funding has been made possible through savings from the Vote of the Department of Social Protection.

Eligibility for the new after-school child care programme is determined by the Department of Social Protection. Officials from the Department of Social Protection and my Department have been working together to set up the programme. The first pilot phase has commenced. There are 500 child care places available in Tralee, Mullingar, Dundalk, Cork city, Finglas, Kings Inn and Limerick city. They are all participating now. The second phase of the pilot will be rolled out in July when further areas will be added, with the full roll-out of the programme in September 2013 to coincide with the new school year. The pilot programme will assist both Departments in determining the procedural, quality and practical issues that will require attention prior to the finalisation of the programme.

The programme will provide €35 per week per child enrolled in a participating service for after-school services. This payment will rise to €100 per week during holiday periods when parents will be availing of full day care. A further €20 per week will be paid by the parent to the provider in both instances.

Additional information not given on the floor of the House

The new after-school child care programme will further augment my Department's programme of child care supports for low-income families. These include the community child care subvention and the child care education and training support programmes, both of which provide subsidised child care for low-income parents, including qualifying parents who are on approved VEC and FÁS education and training courses. In 2013, my Department expects to spend in the region of €70 million on these programmes, supporting more than 30,000 child care places. This is in addition to the early childhood care and education, ECCE, scheme which provides a universal preschool year. The cost of this scheme is in the region of €175 million per annum.

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister for her reply and for including my home town, Mullingar, in the first pilot. It was welcome news.

Are the 500 places announced on 29 April filled or is it the case that they were announced and it will be a number of weeks before they are filled? When the original scheme was announced, there was talk of a pilot but not of a second pilot. The Minister spoke about a second pilot. Will the second pilot involve a further 500 places or will it be more? Will there be a third pilot and will we see the scheme fully implemented by September of this year?

What level of consultation did the Minister's Department have with the various county child care committees that will have to implement this scheme? A number of county child care committees have told me that the level of consultation was minimal. Also, is it the Minister's intention to fully regulate the after-school sector under the Child Care (Pre-School Services) Regulations 2006?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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It is useful to have these pilots before we begin the full scheme in September. It is intended to have the full scheme - the 6,000 places - operating from September. A decision was taken subsequent to the first announcement to do a second pilot in July because it was felt it would be helpful to roll it out in a number of other areas and learn from that.

My Department has had a huge amount of contact in recent months with each county child care committee in terms of developing a national approach to child care and co-ordinating the work of the child care committees. I have no doubt that during the course of those consultations, the new decision, and it is a relatively new decision going back to the budget, to establish an after-care school project would have been discussed. Those discussions will continue in the coming months. They are pivotal in terms of analysing and supplying to us the number of child care places that are available in each area. My Department has been heavily involved in that. The Deputy will appreciate there is a huge amount of work involved in getting this scheme up and running this year.

The issues the Deputy raises about quality and standards will also be discussed on an ongoing basis to determine what precisely will be in place in September and the best approach. I will revert to the Deputy regarding the question on the regulations.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Is the Deputy happy with that reply?

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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I take the Minister's word that her Department has had a huge level of contact with the child care committees but she qualified her reply in terms of the role they are providing in the general child care sector and the way they see it evolving over years. Regarding this particular pilot scheme, is the Minister satisfied that her Department had a high level of contact with the county child care committees? Will the Minister's Department engage fully with the county child care committees that are implementing these 500 places in the first pilot to ensure any teething problems with the second pilot are ironed out and there is full implementation of the scheme? Are there any time limits regarding the holiday weeks? How many holiday weeks will be allowed in a particular year?

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I assure the Deputy about the detailed contact that has been taking place. I am aware that the Department staff who have been involved in working with the child care committees have visited all the child care committees and had national meetings with them on the range of issues that arise in their portfolios in local areas. Up to now, county child care committees have been doing their work at a local level in the county, but they were not being co-ordinated nationally.

In terms of the development of a more co-ordinated approach to child care nationally and locally, an important aspect of that is getting the child care committees to work to national priorities. I assure the Deputy that the ongoing development of this after-school child care provision will be a key part of the ongoing discussions with the local committees.

The Deputy asked about the subsidised after-school care provision. People will be entitled to a total of 52 weeks of subsidised after-school child care even if they have more than one child in child care each week. Provided the person's circumstances do not change, the subsidised after-school child care place will last the 52 weeks from the date they first avail of the service. If someone avails of child care for any part of a week, that is counted as a week.