Frank Fahey (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

I welcome the opportunity to make a statement to Seanad Éireann regarding the implementation of the equal opportunities child care programme.

The programme for Government and the progress of the equal opportunities child care programme are confirmation of the Government's commitment to developing child care services and to keeping child care at the forefront of its social agenda. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform has responsibility for the development of child care to meet the needs of working parents and those in education and training preparatory to labour market participation through the implementation of the equal opportunities child care programme or EOCP, the current phase of which covers the period from 2000 to 2006.

The EOCP has both an equal opportunities and a social inclusion perspective and aims, inter alia, to increase the supply of centre-based child care places by 55% by the end of the programme. The broad objectives of the equal opportunities child care programme are to improve the quality of child care and to maintain and increase the number of child care facilities and places and to introduce a co-ordinated approach to the delivery of child care services.

The EOCP is structured into two measures of the regional operational programmes with significant European Regional Development Fund, ERDF, European Social Fund, ESF, and Exchequer supports available. The programme makes capital grant assistance available to community-based, not-for-profit child care groups and to private child care providers to facilitate the creation of new and enhanced child care places. Community-based not-for-profit groups which provide services for very disadvantaged families can also receive grant assistance towards their staffing costs to enable them to support parents who would not be able to afford the full cost of child care.

The key criteria against which project proposals are appraised for funding to provide new and enhanced services and to support the staffing costs of services in disadvantaged areas include the socio-economic and demographic profile of the area, the quality of the proposal, the capacity of the group to implement the project, the level of integration and co-ordination and the costings and value for money. In Ireland in the 1980s and 1990s, as more mothers tended to return to the workforce, the child care needs of parents continued to be most frequently met by family or neighbours. The potential of the female labour force as an impetus for future economic growth, together with the economic needs of many couples, continues to contribute to an increase in female participation in the labour force. EU equality legislation endorsed the need for expanded opportunities for women.

The overall result of these changes was an increased awareness of the need for expanded child care services to support the participation of both parents in the labour market. The first meeting of the expert working group on child care established under Partnership 2000 was held within a month of the Government changeover in 1989 and all the evidence shows that child care has been high on the agenda of the Government since that time. It has consistently moved promptly and purposefully to facilitate the development of a top quality child care service across the country. The achievements in respect of child care are a testament to that commitment and have helped in no small way to support the child care needs of parents in employment, education and training and assisted many of them to break the cycle of disadvantage.

The recommendations of the working group were published in 1999. The Government proceeded to implement these through the National Development Plan 2000-06. The working group made recommendations in respect of both the supply and demand side of child care. On the demand side, the Government has, to date, favoured the use of child benefit to assist parents with the costs of parenting, including those relating to child care, because it is income-neutral and affords parents choices regarding the arrangements they choose to make in respect of the care of their children. It has increased the monthly child benefit payment since 1997 by a significant 272%. The annual cost of child benefit is now over €1.9 billion.

Our focus in this debate is on the EOCP, which largely addresses supply issues. The supply side of child care was supported through a major investment in the national development plan. The action is being supplemented by capital tax incentives, provided by Government, which have also led to the development of large-scale crèches and have further increased the availability of child care. The Department of Finance has also made funding available to expand the provision of crèches for civil servants. Since it was launched in 2000, the total funding package for the 2000-06 phase of the equal opportunities child care programme has increased from €317 million to €499.3 million, or by 57%. The most recent increase was that of €50 million announced in the budget. These increases took place for a number of reasons and are worth acknowledging.

In the first instance, the programme budget increased from €317 million to €436 million, with an increase in provision made at the time of the social partnership agreement on the anti-inflationary package. Actual funding for child care increased in recognition of the need to further develop the child care sector, while responsibility for the development of child care for school-going children also transferred to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. As part of the EU-supported national development plan, the EOCP was reviewed at mid-term stage and was deemed to be very successful in working towards its end targets. The Government considered it appropriate to increase the funding package by a further €13 million, including the provision of some additional EU funding from the performance reserve.

Such has been the dynamic for the development of child care which has grown at local level since the start of the EOCP that there was something of a funding crisis in terms of capital development last year. The Government has responded positively to the arguments put forward at Cabinet by the Minister, Deputy McDowell, and his officials and, as a result, the budget provided a Government commitment to the injection of a further €50 million in capital funding under the current programme and a further €40 million in additional capital funding in the next phase of the EOCP to the end of 2009. The latter decision facilitated the largest ever single announcement by the Minister of capital funding grants, totalling some €35 million, for child care in December 2004, almost as soon as the budget provision had been revealed. While some groups were naturally somewhat disappointed that they were not included in that announcement, I give them every assurance that the Minister and the Department, together with our partners in ADM who appraise all applications, are working to approve, as soon as possible, all capital projects which clearly address local child care service gaps and represent good value for money.

I understand the Minister hopes to be in a position to announce a further large-scale capital allocation at Easter, if not before, and that he also hopes to make further announcements of capital funding in a planned manner later this year and thereafter. In light of the large amounts of public funding involved, there is an onus on the Department to manage the flows of capital funding broadly in line with its annual funding provision which can sometimes cause necessary delays in making grant applications.

Total funding already committed under the EOCP to date will, when fully drawn down, create 33,254 new child care places throughout every county in Ireland. Of these, 20,500 were already in place by June 2004. This represented an increase of 36% in the supply of child care places in four short years. The funding remaining to be allocated will further increase the supply of quality child care places throughout the country. Every county has already benefited from the creation of additional child care facilities under the EOCP. All groups which benefited from the programme are encouraged to provide services to the maximum allowed in respect of their particular services under the child care regulations and to remain open for at least 46 weeks per year to facilitate parents in employment. These new places offer parents greater access to child care as they meet their work and family needs. The EOCP also contributes towards the staffing costs of child care services which support parents who are at a disadvantage to enable those services to offer differential fee scales to benefit less advantaged families.

We are aware that the number of women participating in the labour market has grown significantly from 483,000 in 1995 to 771,000 in 2004. The need, therefore, for child care has increased enormously during the period. It is estimated that as many as 220,000 children require child care while their parents are in employment or education or training in preparation for labour market participation. The Government's policy is to offer parents choices in respect of child care. The survey of child care undertaken by the Central Statistics Office in 2003 shows that involvement of the extended family and child minders to provide child care support remains the preferred choice for child care in many families. While much of the focus of the EOCP is on centre-based child care, the Government recognises that many parents prefer to use child minders and it has put in place an initiative under the programme to enhance quality awareness among child minders. The latter is being delivered by the city and county child care committees.

As a result of the relatively high adult carer to child ratios that are essential to ensure the delivery of a safe, quality child care service, the cost of delivering child care is necessarily high. It is in this context that the EOCP helps new community-based facilities with their staffing costs in the early days as they move towards sustainability. Similarly, it is likely that a number of community-based services located in areas of significant disadvantage will require ongoing contributions towards their staffing costs. However, given the importance of labour market participation in breaking the cycle of disadvantage, the advantages to society in the long term of these supports will outweigh their cost in the short term. We are currently reviewing the arrangements for the continuation of staffing grant assistance to community groups that provide services for particularly disadvantaged parents. Again, the range of issues to be addressed is quite wide. The Department is, however, cognisant of the needs of the child care groups and hopes to be in a position to advise them on any new arrangements at the earliest opportunity.

I am aware there has been considerable media discussion regarding the comparative cost of child care in different countries in recent times. It is my view that an international comparison of the cost of child care can only be drawn by considering the full package of taxation, central and local, and other supports, direct and indirect, made available to child care providers in each country, together with a review of the structure and disposable income of family units. I am unaware of the existence of any thorough and up-to-date study which shows a valid comparison of the cost of child care in Ireland against that which obtains in other countries.

The increase of over 30,000 new child care places and the rapid expansion of the child care sector have had a considerable and positive impact on employment within that sector. These new child care places are likely to lead to the creation of up to 4,000 new employment opportunities for child care practitioners. The opening of new quality facilities will afford progression opportunities to appropriately trained staff. These will contribute to the creation of a better developed child care sector where people can work in well appointed facilities and can seek promotion opportunities either within their current place or employment or elsewhere. Such factors are important in sustaining a high-quality workforce in the sector.

As previously stated, the availability of tax benefits has also stimulated the availability of child care places. I understand that the child care directorate of the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is considering carrying out a survey of families in each county which will serve for forward planning of services. This survey will also help us assess Ireland's progress towards the Barcelona targets for child care provision, under which each member state of the European Union aims to provide places for a third of all children under three. In addition, the aim is for an early education place for 90% of children from age three to the time they start compulsory education. These targets are again linked to labour market participation, particularly for women. Writing almost two years ago, the OECD group, which under the thematic review of early childhood education and care in Ireland on behalf of the Minister for Education and Science, noted:

To have launched such an ambitious programme is already a real achievement in the Irish context, where few or no models were available. Moreover, the programme has been able to maintain a focus on equality of opportunity, staff support affordability and social inclusion, with 92% of funding going towards the community sector.

This is praise indeed for the efforts of the Government and also those involved in the delivery of the EOCP, be they administrators of the programme or applicants and project developers for the community and private child care sectors. Apart from making considerable progress in increasing the supply of centre-based child care places, the Government is enhancing the awareness of quality issues across a widened range of activities being supported under the EOCP. The programme focuses on many of the equality issues identified in the national child care strategy and aims to ensure a co-ordinated approach is taken to the delivery of child care services throughout the country.

Central to the development of child care at local level are the 33 city and county child care committees. The remit of the 33 committees is to advance child care service provision with local areas through the following: the development of a co-ordinated strategy for child care provision in an area based on analysis and needs, overseeing effective implementation against targets set by the committee; the development of an information strategy concerning the provision of child care within the county, which updates and develops the baseline provided in the national children's census; and the development and support of local countrywide networks and initiatives, which target all categories of child care providers.

Membership of each city and county child care committee is broadly based and representative of the key stakeholders in the child care sector concerned. Committee members give freely of their time to the process. It is recommended that the structures be balanced to include representation from the statutory sector, social partners, local development partnerships, national voluntary child care organisations, parents and the providers of child care. The establishment process was facilitated by the health boards. The first such committee was established in Galway and is very much a success story.

The county child care strategy is implemented through a series of annual action plans, which are also subject to thorough appraisal before applicants are approved for funding by the Minister, through a programme appraisal committee structure. The committees are engaged in a wide range of developmental work to advance the availability of quality child care within counties. As regards the broader issues of early childhood care and education, a number of different pieces of interdepartmental work are ongoing. These include the high level group on child care and early childhood education chaired by the National Children's Office, which was established to consider the issue of co-ordination in the child care and early education areas, while the National Economic and Social Forum is currently reviewing developments since the publication of the White Paper on early education and the national childhood strategy in the 1990s. Both of these pieces of work will inform our future thinking.

In closing, it is only fair to emphasise that the equal opportunities child care programme has been central to the development of child care in Ireland over the past five years. We all recognise the child care sector has flourished over the past seven or eight years and will continue to do so under the careful stewardship of the Government which has recognised the need to foster the sector and which has provided significant funding, both directly and indirectly, to support that growth. The panoply of supports made available under the EOCP and the broader range of Government initiatives to support the child care sector is a testament to its commitment to support parents in meeting both their child care and employment needs for the economic and social betterment of the country.