Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I welcome the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, to the Chamber.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I am Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

Paul Coghlan (Fine Gael)
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It is a Freudian slip.

Paddy Burke (Fine Gael)
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I am sorry. It is Minister for Children and Youth Affairs.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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The Minister, Deputy Reilly, is very welcome to the House. Part of his brief relates to significant health issues such as the elimination of tobacco smoking, and it is a good description of him to say he is a quasi-Minister for Health.
A child care and crèche facility in Milltown Malbay in County Clare is on the verge of closing. The Spraoi facility looks after up to 80 children and employs a number of staff on a permanent basis. The problem is that the facility is waiting for funding from the Department and for some reason there appears to be a logjam in terms of the funding being released by the Department. It would be all very well if the facility had cash reserves or a back-up plan, but unfortunately that is not the case. Since Christmas, staff have worked for the past two weeks free, gratisand for nothing in order to keep the facility open in the hope that the money will be forthcoming from the Department. I understand Spraoi received capital funding to carry out works on the facility, independently of the funding stream on which it is reliant in order to keep the doors open. It would be a great pity if the facility were to close due to timing because, realistically, those working there cannot continue to work without being paid. They might keep the facility going for another week but that will be it.
It is a wonderful facility. I have spoken to a number of parents who send their children there. I am aware of one parent who travels 25 miles to bring her child there because of the level of care and commitment shown by staff. I believe the issue is one of timing and that the matter can be resolved pretty quickly, but that would require the intervention of the Minister in order to expedite the payment. I await what I hope will be a positive reply from the Minister.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Senator for raising the matter, which has also been raised with me by his constituency colleagues, Deputies Joe Carey and Pat Breen.

The Spraoi community child care centre is a community-based, not-for-profit child care facility that provides child care services for the local community in Milltown Malbay. This child care service is one of more than 900 community child care services located throughout the country and managed by local communities, as the Senator outlined, on a not-for-profit basis. These community services play a very important role in the provision of child care services and particularly in the provision of services for disadvantaged and low-income families. Spraoi community child care is participating in the three major child care support programmes funded by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs. The funding is provided directly to participating child care services which have children enrolled that satisfy the programmes' eligibility criteria.

Spraoi is funded under the community child care subvention programme, which provides funding to not-for-profit community child care services to support disadvantaged and low-income working parents. Participating services qualify for funding on the basis of the level of service they provide and the profile of the qualifying parents eligible for support.

The group is also funded under the early childhood care and education programme, which provides a free preschool year to children in the year before they commence primary school. Funding is also provided under the training and education child care programme, which supports parents who are entering or returning to the workforce or who are participating in training or educational courses to facilitate a return to work.

The total funding provided to Spraoi under these programmes in the academic year 2013-2014 amounted to approximately €122,000. The final funding provision for the current school year in respect of the community child care subvention programme will not be determined until later in the school year, but the group has received a preliminary payment of €26,308, based on last year's figures. The group has already received almost €21,000 in funding for the early childhood care and education programme since August 2014 and can expect to receive a further €15,000 between now and the end of May, based on current enrolments. Funding in respect of the training and education child care programme will be determined by the number of children enrolled in the service during the course of the year whose parents qualify for support under the programme.

I assure the Senator that my Department will continue to provide funding to Spraoi, based on the numbers of qualified children enrolled in this service under each support programme. In addition to the above funding, Spraoi received more than €33,000 from the 2014 early years capital programme, which was targeted towards refurbishment projects in community child care services. I understand that Clare county child care committee, which is funded by my Department to provide support to parents and child care services in the region, has given advice and support to this group on previous occasions and I have been assured that the committee is in a position to offer advice and support again now. I would strongly urge the Spraoi management to engage with the county child care committee to ensure that this important local child care resource can be put on a sustainable footing for the benefit of all the young children and families in the area that need these services. I would ask that the group examines its participation in all of the child care support programmes and engage with officials my Department to ensure that the maximum levels of funding available under the programmes are being utilised.

As the Senator knows, this Government allocates in the region of €260 million annually to provide for the child support programmes and approximately 100,000 children benefit each year from this investment. This funding has been maintained despite the difficult economic situation that has prevailed in recent years. The majority of this funding is targeted at those families most in need of support and it is important, therefore, that those child care services, particularly community services, which benefit from this funding are prudently managed so that the real beneficiaries are the young children who would not otherwise be a position to avail of high-quality child care services. We strongly wish to support these facilities and to ensure these services remain. I thank the Senator for raising the issue.

Martin Conway (Fine Gael)
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Is there is money to which this group is entitled and has access but that it is not getting because there has been a delay in the Department for some reason? Maybe I am wrong, but that is my understanding of the problem. The money is there and has been allocated but there seems to be a time delay in terms of its release.

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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This is not the first such facility to find itself experiencing difficulties. In both previous cases, through the county child care committee, we have been able to support the facility, although not necessarily with additional funds but by helping it to restructure its arrangements through its management. In regard to the specific question raised, I am not aware of such a situation but I will double-check and revert to the Senator.