Ciarán Cuffe (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party)
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Question 16: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the measures he is taking to ensure that the equal opportunity child care funding will continue past August 2005; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16181/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, EOCP, 2000-2006, is a central pillar in the Government's child care strategy and is intended to increase the availability and quality of child care supports for parents in employment, education or training. The programme is funded by the Exchequer and the European Union Structural Funds as part of the regional operational programmes of the national development plan.

The programme makes capital grant assistance available to community based not for profit organisations and to self-employed private providers to build, renovate or equip a child care service, if their proposal meets with the objectives of the programme. In areas of significant disadvantage, multi-annual staffing grants may be available to community based groups providing child care which meets the needs of disadvantaged parents to enable them to avail of work, education or training opportunities.

The Deputy may already be aware that, following a detailed review of the staffing grants under the EOCP, I am now in a position to extend to the end of December 2007 the terms of the existing staffing grants to groups which have received such staffing funding for a period of three or more years and which continue to deliver a child care service in accordance with their pre-agreed targets. To benefit from such funding, the groups must continue to pay particular attention to the support of disadvantaged families and the implementation of a fee structure tailored to the differing economic circumstances of the client group and which ensures that child care places subsidised by the EOCP are targeted towards those most in need.

The Deputy may also be aware that, following discussions with my colleague the Minister for Finance, an additional capital provision of €90 million was made available for the development of child care infrastructure over the period 2005-09 in the context of the 2005 budget and as part of the five-year multi-annual framework for capital expenditure. 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 December 2004, I have announced capital grant allocations totalling almost €67 million to community based child care providers. I expect to make further significant capital grant allocations in the remainder of 2005 and thereafter.

The 2000-06 programme contains a number of targets, most notable to increase the supply of centre based places by over 55%. These targets will be exceeded and, the current programme's record is impressive with more than 24,600 new places already and the prospect of at least a further 12,000 new places by the end of the programme. The outcomes of the current programme will be evaluated thoroughly to identify outstanding need which will be addressed in a successor programme.