Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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2. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs how he will ensure that preschool places are made available for children who have turned three years of age and whose parents are seeking to enrol them in the early childhood care and education scheme in January or April 2017, given the likelihood that many early years education and care settings will be full with the cohort enrolled in September 2016. [43043/15]

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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How will the Minister ensure preschool places are made available for children who have turned three years of age and whose parents are seeking to enrol them in the early childhood care and education scheme in January or April 2017, given the likelihood that many early years education and care settings will be full?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The early childhood care and education, ECCE, programme covers children who have reached the age of three years and two months by 1 September of the relevant year. From September 2016, I am expanding the programme to allow children to enrol in free preschool from the time they are three years of age and remain there until they start primary school. This extended free preschool provision was first recommended by the expert advisory group on the early years strategy in 2013. It was also one of a series of recommendations of the recent interdepartmental group on future investment in child care, which I established last January. The group consulted a wide range of stakeholders, including in the early years sector, during the course of its work. The result of that work was a very good example of what a coherent document based on wide consultation could achieve. We now have a clear pathway for future investment in child care.

Under the extended programme, there will be three opportunities for eligible children to enrol during the preschool year: children who reach the age of three years between April and August will have the opportunity to enrol in September; children who reach the age of three between September and December will have the opportunity to enrol in January and children who reach the age of three between January and March will have the opportunity to enrol in April. As a result of this extension, the number of children benefiting from the programme is expected to rise from around 67,000 to 127,000 in a given programme year. For the 2016-17 programme year, it is estimated that 89,500 children will be eligible to enrol in the programme from September 2016, 22,000 from January 2017 and 15,500 from April 2017.

In order to provide the early years sector with the time it needs to build capacity to meet this increased demand, a decision was taken to introduce the new measure from September 2016. As the increased demand for the programme is not expected to peak until January and April 2017, this timeframe should allow preschool providers to make infrastructural or service changes that are necessary and put in place extra staff resources to accommodate the additional demand.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply. The extension of the free preschool year is most welcome. As part of my outreach work as rapporteur on quality and affordable child care, I met many staff across the sector. The one issue they raise, although they very much welcome the second free preschool year, concerns the capacity to cope. Have studies been carried out to identify the gaps where sufficient infrastructure is needed and extra places will be required nationally?

Will every child be guaranteed a free preschool place for the first and second years? A second free preschool year has been granted, but questions posed within the child care profession include whether the need for the training of child care workers will be adequately met in such a short period of time and whether it will be able to cope with the extension of the ECCE programme.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I am satisfied that there is additional capacity in the early years sector to cope with some of the increased demand. The annual survey of early years services which was conducted in December 2014 estimated that there were more than 24,000 vacancies in early years services across the country, with almost 13,000 of these vacancies in sessional services. I am also aware that every year a significant number of new preschool providers apply to participate in the programme and the increased demand for and the additional investment in free preschool provision should encourage a greater number of applicants. The restoration of capitation rates to pre-2012 levels from September 2016 should also encourage a greater number of new applicants and encourage existing preschool providers to expand. I am clear that more capacity will be required and that January and April enrolments may pose a challenge. Officials in the Department are committed to assisting with these challenges. They are working closely with the city and county child care committees and the voluntary child care organisations on a range of measures which will assist preschool providers to meet increased demand for free preschool provision, particularly from January and April 2017. Further information on these measures will be available shortly. A mapping exercise has started in the Department to identify where the gaps might be.

Sandra McLellan (Cork East, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his reply and I am delighted to hear a mapping exercise has commenced. As I am sure the Minister is aware, professionalisation and ensuring a certain standard of care in the child care sector are issues. We have some of the most fantastic child care workers in Europe and they should be treated as such. What are the Minister's views on professionalisation within the sector and the security offered by a decent wage to rewards people for their time spent studying hard while preparing to become professional child care workers?

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Deputy for her question because it has now been well proved nationally and internationally that early childhood care and education has a beneficial effect for children, particularly those from disadvantaged backgrounds. This is the case if it is of high quality; if it is of poor quality, it can be detrimental. Quality is very much the focus of the Department and interdepartmental group which engages with parents and service providers. What we want is affordable and accessible quality early child care. We have put in place a number of incentives, including another €1.5 million for a learner fund to encourage people to upskill. This will take a period of time, but the moneys we have available should allow between 900 and 1,000 people to upskill each year. Wages and terms and conditions are matters for providers and their employees.