Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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5. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to support facilities for child care in the Darndale and Belcamp area of Dublin 17; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3213/16]

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs to outline for me supports for child care in the Darndale and Belcamp areas of Dublin Bay North. I ask that he support child care services that are a great example of good practice in this area. We have quality staff there and amazing local community support, and I ask and urge the Minister to ensure that the child care facilities in Darndale and Belcamp are given maximum support in 2016.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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A number of child care support programmes are implemented by my Department to assist parents with the cost of child care. These include the early childhood care and education programme, ECCE, the community child care subvention programme, CCS, and the training and employment child care programmes, TEC. This funding is provided through the child care services in which children eligible under the programmes are enrolled.

There are four child care community providers in the geographical area of Darndale, Belcamp and Moatview which received funding in the school year 2014-15 under the support programmes. The child care services and the funding provided are as follows: Darndale Belcamp integrated child care, €578,214; New Life child care centre, €45,853; St. Francis community playgroup, €61,420; and Moatview early education centre, €44,384. These child care services continue to participate in the child care support programmes in the current school year and provisional funding totalling in excess of €640,000 has been approved by my Department. A final funding figure for the school year 2015-16 will be established at a later date, when the enrolment process for qualifying children has been completed. Private child care providers in this area are currently eligible to participate in all of the support programmes, with the exception of the community child care subvention scheme and will continue to be funded where eligible children are enrolled.

I am further advised by Tusla that, in 2015, it provided €328,226 in direct funding to early years services in the Darndale-Belcamp area.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I accept there are four excellent service providers, the Darndale-Belcamp integrated group, the New Life group, the St. Francis group and the Moatview education group. However, the constant issue is that they are under pressure with regard to financial services and retaining staff every single year. I have met some staff who loved working in the centre, many of whom would love to go back although they have been laid off. While the services have been funded to some degree, we need to fund them properly because of the fantastic work they are doing in regard to early intervention, which we discussed earlier.

Is the Minister supportive of the current campaign, Hands Up for Children, which is a broader movement that is linked to the debate on child care in Darndale? It deals with the whole issue of smart investment in children, prevention and early intervention. The bottom line is that it works. The research shows that if we get in early in particular areas, we can prevent a lot of damage and disadvantage in the future.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that I am on the Dáil record as being very supportive, in both this and my previous Ministry, of early intervention and prevention, and of identifying children who are at risk and acting early. There are many good examples of programmes operating throughout the country through the ABC programme. I recently visited Sheriff Street, near the financial services centre, where an initiative is being funded partly by the Department and partly by private donations. The initiative has trained local people to go into homes where, because they are locals, they are accepted by the local home owners. They interact with parents in regard to teaching their children about how to interact and play in an educational way, even from the age of 18 months. It has been a major success.

We are very supportive of prevention and early intervention. We know that the people who benefit most from the preschool year and its extension are those who come from a disadvantaged background because it helps level the playing pitch for them and means they enter school with much improved reading and social skills.

Finian McGrath (Dublin North Central, Independent)
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I accept the Minister is a strong supporter of early intervention. However, my key question is whether there is a broader view within the Cabinet on that issue. Will the Minister and the Government deliver on the national policy framework for children and young people? We have debated the whole issue of child poverty, early years education and parental supports. We need the upskilling of professionals and we also need to rebalance the current resources within the system. While I accept the Minister's point, we need to up our game and, in particular, the Cabinet needs to up its game.

On the question of research, the Minister knows some of the people I am talking about, such as Noel Kelly on the north side of Dublin. They have proved from their research across certain parts of my constituency that it works. It is not NIMBY, liberal stuff; it has been proven to be factually correct, and it is important. We have seen the reality in recent weeks. Children are among the worst affected by the banking crisis and the recession. We need to focus on this but it needs Cabinet support.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Cabinet will be very supportive of all of this. We are acutely aware that, in the course of the formulation of the interdepartmental group report and the studies that went with that, much research was done, both nationally and internationally, and I will come to that shortly.

With regard to the Darndale-Belcamp integrated child care service specifically, it was established in January 2001 and is now catering for some 260 children daily, 90% of whom are from the immediate area of Darndale, Belcamp and Moatview. The centre got into a bit of trouble in March 2014, given it incurred expenditure of €2.22 million in 2013 and received funding amounting to €1.96 million. However, the Department of Children and Youth Affairs and Tusla engaged with the service to develop a sustainable plan and it is my understanding that this plan has been implemented. The service is now on a much more solid footing, has a good business plan to go forward with and is sustainable, which is very important.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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Thank you, Minister.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I will just finish the point, if I may.

Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Ceann Comhairle)
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We are 12 minutes over time for these priority questions. Other Deputies are waiting to put their questions.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I accept that but I believe this will be of interest to everybody in the House. The fact that early intervention leads to better educational outcomes, more employability and better social skills benefits children directly. However, it also benefits society, a point on which I want to support the Deputy. It leads to less anti-social behaviour, less criminality later in life and it also affords us, as an economic entity that is growing, a much more educated and skilled workforce, which makes us much more attractive for foreign direct investment.