Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 59: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of civil servants in his Department dealing directly with the issue of child care; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29645/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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As the Deputy is aware, my Department's responsibility relating to child care is confined to the implementation of the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme, EOCP, 2000-2006. This is a substantial investment programme under which capital and staffing grants are made available to develop and support child care facilities. The programme also delivers a number of quality enhancement measures which are aimed at assisting all child care workers.

The EOCP is administered by the child care directorate in my Department which is currently staffed by 19 civil servants. Having regard to the scale and nature of the programme and its need to operate at a local level across the country, the function of managing the day-to-day operations of the EOCP, in particular, the initial appraisal of grant applications, is carried out by Area Development Management, ADM, Limited, on behalf of the directorate. At present, 39.5 equivalent full-time staff employed by ADM work directly on the EOCP while up to six further staff in ADM work either indirectly on the programme or are shared or central staff. ADM also plays an important role in monitoring and auditing expenditure under the programme and ensuring that the necessary financial and other controls are in place. ADM makes reports regularly on the operation of the programme and collects data to assist in future planning.

In addition, 33 city and county child care committees, CCCs, have been established by the Department to provide the basis for developing a national support infrastructure for quality child care development. The CCCs receive funding from the child care directorate in the Department to implement their annual action plans and to support staffing costs.