Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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19. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs her views on whether the required capacity currently exists to meet the need of the implementation of the single affordable child care payment; the plans she has in place to expand the capacity of the public child care sector over the coming years; the progress likely to be made on such capacity planning by the time the scheme is commenced; and if she is satisfied that all children seeking a place on the SACP scheme will have a place for 2017. [33785/16]

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Baineann an cheist seo le cumas na Roinne agus na hearnála dul i ngleic leis an scéim nua atá curtha ar bun ag an Roinn. The question asks what the Department is doing in terms of capacity planning for the new scheme and whether it believes current capacity will be sufficient. If not, will sufficient capacity be in place when the new scheme starts in September next year?

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am very pleased that from September 2017, a new affordable child care scheme will be introduced to provide financial support for parents towards the cost of child care. Approximately 79,000 children will benefit from the new scheme in its first year, including 25,000 children who will benefit from the universal subsidy. An estimated 54,000 will benefit from the targeted subsidies, including 31,500 children who already receive support under the current targeted subsidy schemes and 22,500 new beneficiaries. Some of the new beneficiaries will already be availing of formal child care but without any financial support from the State at present.

My Department commissions an annual survey of child care providers in which capacity is a key area. As of April 2016, there were up to 20,000 vacancies in child care providers nationwide. However, the issue of capacity in the sector is complex and cannot be understood by reference to current vacancies alone. Some services, depending on their infrastructure, are able to increase and decrease capacity in response to demand through the recruitment of additional staff or adaptation of available space, while other providers are in a position to extend premises or move to a larger premises. The Department receives several hundred applications from new providers wishing to enter into contract every year, while a lower number of providers close. While there is no clear evidence to suggest a lack of capacity for the new affordable child care scheme at this stage, my Department will continue to carefully monitor trends in this regard. I would also like to highlight that capital funding for the early years sector of €4.5 million was made available in budget 2017, which will support strategic investment in capacity.

Finally, in order to meet the needs of parents whose preference is to use a childminder, and to build capacity to cater for increased demand in future years, my Department has commenced talks with Childminding Ireland in recent months to explore a number of options around how quality can be assured within the childminding sector.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have significant doubts about how this will work in September next year. I have doubts about capacity and what this will mean for prices. The Minister and the Department have said that they do not expect there to be any issues but are keeping it under review. The Department states that it expects the scheme to improve labour market activation and participation but a degree of contradiction is inherent in not expecting a significant rise in capacity but expecting labour activation to increase.

It is important that increasing capacity and capacity planning are not market led. Such an approach was a disastrous failure in regard to broadband and has been a failure in many other areas. It has to be led by the State and the community sector. There has to be serious capital investment and while the Minister has outlined the capital allocation my recollection is that it has been reduced from the previous year's budget as a result of everything that is happening in Oberstown. I believe it needs to be increased.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Department is monitoring this in different ways, such as through a Pobal exercise on vacancies and county child care surveys on capacity and place numbers. It is difficult to determine what the demand will be, or even what the current demand is in certain places, and to match demand and capacity.

I have confidence in the Department's ability to monitor that in an appropriate way, such that it can identify potential deficits in particular areas. On the other point made by the Deputy, there has been all sorts of estimations in terms the required capacity to meet the an anticipated increase in terms of labour activation.

Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The Minister will be aware that the Association of Childcare Professionals has indicated that it intends to hold a day of action and protest on 17 November. I commend it on that because I believe that workers and professionals in this sector have been taken for granted by previous Governments and by this Government. We are asking them to deal with an increase in capacity, and as a result a significantly changed sector, yet they are unlikely to see any improvement in their conditions. There has been no improved access to the Learner fund and because of that a significant category of workers is maintained in low-paid, insecure employment without any ability to progress. There was also a failure to deal with the seriously problematic and very unfair situation whereby child care workers are expected to sign-on during the summer months. These are people who have qualifications, which they worked very hard to achieve, and they deserve more respect and better pay. They deserve a fair deal from this Government.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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I am well aware that the Association of Childcare Professionals is planning to organise. The association has been in communication with me in regard to its concerns. I am supportive of the right of people to raise their voices on issues of concern to them. This will assist me in my work as Minister in the context of budget 2018. I acknowledge that there is a day of protest planned and I believe that it is important that it happens and that the association gets an opportunity to raise its concerns. I have no difficulty with that.

I have indicated a number of times that while this is a radical new step in terms of the sustainability of the infrastructure we have in this country in relation to child care, it is only a first step. I have not been able to provide for everything in the context of budget 2017 but I have managed to identify and commit €14.5 million of my budget allocation for 2017 to current providers in respect of non-contact time, which was one of the key requests they had in terms of their conditions.