Cecilia Keaveney (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Question 212: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position regarding a staffing grant and a capital grant for a group (details supplied) in County Donegal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13818/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I understand that applications for staffing and capital grant assistance under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, EOCP, 2000-2006, were submitted by the group to my Department in October 2004 and January 2005 respectively. The EOCP is a seven year development programme which aims to increase the availability and quality of child care to support parents in employment, education and training. These applications have been forwarded to Area Development Management Limited, which is engaged by my Department to carry out detailed assessments on all EOCP grant applications on my behalf.

The level of demand for capital grant assistance was such that I considered it important to increase the capital provision for the present programme. Following discussions with my colleague, the Minister for Finance, an additional capital provision of €90 million was made available over theperiod 2005-09, in the context of the 2005 budget.

Of this amount, €50 million is being made available under the present programme and the remaining €40 million will flow under the next phase of the post-2006 EOCP. This augments the increased EU funding of some €12 million made available last year in recognition of the progress of the programme. This brings the total funding available for the programme to €499.3 million and now includes an increased provision for capital developments for which €205 million has been set aside. Since budget 2005, I have announced a record allocation totalling almost €68 million in capital funding to community based not-for-profit groups, in two tranches, one in December 2004 and another on 4 March 2005.

The availability of the additional capital funding will enable me to make capital grant assistance available to groups which can show that they address significant child care service gaps and where the project proposal represents good value for money when considered in relation to the current guidelines on building costs. I hope to make further significant capital commitments during the remainder of 2005 and thereafter.

The ongoing assessment of the applications in the pipeline will be concluded as speedily as possible to facilitate the development of additional child care facilities and places at the earliest opportunity. When the assessment on the projects in question is completed, the applications will then be considered by the programme appraisal committee, chaired by my Department, before I make a final decision. In the interim, it would be premature of me to comment further on these applications for funding.