Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Assisting families to access high-quality, affordable early learning and care, and school-age childcare is a priority for me as Minister. The Senator and her colleagues will be aware that investment in childcare has increased by an unprecedented 117% over the past four budgets, now totalling €575 million per year. This funds a number of early learning and care, and school-age childcare programmes. I want to see investment in this area continue to increase significantly over the coming years. I am agreement with the Senator.

I am delighted that First 5, the whole-of-Government strategy for babies, young children and their families, commits to doubling investment over the next ten years. Given the significant amount of public money invested in these programmes, there needs to be an appropriate level of oversight and accountability. I believe that my Department’s approach to protecting Exchequer funding and ensuring compliance with programme rules is balanced appropriately with supports we provide to services to enable them to continue to deliver a sustainable and high-quality service.

Pobal, as administrator of my Department's funded childcare programmes, conducts compliance visits to childcare service providers. These visits check a service’s compliance with the published rules of Exchequer funded programmes. Results from Pobal compliance visits for the first part of the 2018-19 programme year show a significant level of non-compliance, which needs to be addressed as a matter of urgency. In particular many childcare services have been found to be in breach of programme rules concerning attendance records and registrations. Subsidies for the early learning and care, and school-age childcare programmes are based on actual attendance. Attendance rules and their application do not penalise parents who occasionally pick up or drop off children early. Pobal, when determining a pattern of attendance during a compliance visit, aims to apply the rules in a manner that maximises the amount payable to providers.

Non-compliance with attendance rules represents a risk to Exchequer funds as it can lead to services receiving funding in excess of their entitlement. For this reason, my Department, working with Pobal, identifies incorrect registrations and applies the relevant corrections to ensure that services are receiving the correct level of funding. This is an important protection for the significant public funding invested into these programmes. I fully recognise the challenges faced by services where incorrect registrations have been discovered. That is why my Department has developed a strong case management system, operated by Pobal, through which a dedicated team assists services facing challenges. This case management service provides non-financial assistance or support in the first instance and is focusing on engaging those providers with an identified overclaim. Community services can access a budget I have created to assist them to transition towards sustainability in a manageable way. I am encouraged that the majority of services engage constructively with the compliance process and I would recommend services to contact Pobal or their local city or county childcare committee if they need support or advice.

The existing targeted childcare schemes will be replaced later this year with the national childcare scheme, as the Senator is aware. The national childcare scheme was developed based on evidence of the best interests of children and families. Its attendance rules will reflect the reality of children's and parents' lives and the need for services to operate as businesses. The national childcare scheme will mark another significant milestone for early learning and care, and school-age childcare in this country, creating an infrastructure from which Government can further increase investment in services over the next decade.