Written answers

Wednesday, 9 July 2008

Department of Health and Children

Child Care Services

11:00 pm

Photo of Tom HayesTom Hayes (Tipperary South, Fine Gael)
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Question 116: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the progress since 2000 to date in 2008 in setting up a national child care system; the further funding parents have received towards child care in this period; the studies carried out on the way child care is achieved internationally and the policies Ireland wants to implement; and if she will make a statement on the cost and availability of approved child care here. [28045/08]

Photo of Barry AndrewsBarry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Since 2000, several key developments in child care have taken place. Between 2000 and 2007, the EU co-funded Equal Opportunities Child Care Programme was implemented. This programme was created to develop child care to meet the needs of parents in employment, education and training. It provided funding of €535 million in the form of capital and staffing grants to the community not-for-profit and private child care sectors and also provided funding for the development of infrastructural and quality supports to the sector including the development of 33 City and County Child care Committees. The EOCP was successful in creating almost 41,000 new child care places and supporting some 27,000 existing places. In Budget 2001, the Government announced a target to increase Child Benefit to €150 for the first and second child and to €185 for the third and subsequent child. These increases were intended to assist all parents with child care costs. Today, Child Benefit for the first and second child is paid at a monthly rate of €166 and €203 for each subsequent child. In December 2005, the Government announced a number of major new developments, under the national child care strategy 2006-10. As part of these developments and to facilitate the delivery of the new Strategy, the Office of the Minister for Children was established.

A key component of the national child care strategy is the national child care investment programme 2006-10. The programme aims to provide a proactive response to the development of quality childcare supports and services, which are grounded in an understanding of local needs. The programme has a budget of €575 million for the five-year period 2006-10, with a target to create 50,000 additional childcare places, this will include 5,000 after school places and 10,000 pre-school education places aimed at 3 to 4 year olds. To date, €220 million in capital grants has been approved and this is expected to create 30,763 new childcare places, of which 10,162 are pre-school and 6,137 are after school. The new community child care subvention scheme is also funded under the NCIP. The scheme came into effect on 1 January 2008 and supports community based child care providers with a focus on disadvantage to enable them to provide reduced childcare fees to qualifying parents. The national child care strategy 2006-10 also includes a commitment to develop a national child care training strategy in order to co-ordinate the provision of quality training to meet the growing needs of the child care sector. The Early Years Education Policy Unit of the Department of Education and Science, which is co-located with my office, is in the process of developing the National Training Strategy.

A number of additional new entitlements for parents were announced under the 2006-10 child care strategy. The early child care supplement was introduced for all children less than six years of age from April 2006. The payment was increased from €1,000 to €1,100 in budget 2008 and is a direct, non-taxable payment of €275 per quarter year, in respect of each eligible child. To further support parents, major increases in Paid and Unpaid Maternity Leave were introduced in 2006 and 2007. As a result, Paid and Unpaid Maternity Leave have increased to 26 weeks and 16 weeks respectively. A new child minding Relief was also introduced in Budget 2006, and extended in Budget 2007. Where an individual minds up to three children in the minder['s own home and notifies his or her city or county child care committee that he or she is providing a child minding service, no tax will be payable on the child minding earnings, provided the amount is less than €15,000 per annum. I would like to point the Deputy in the direction of two international studies that have focused attention on how child care is achieved internationally: OECD (2006) Starting Strong 11: Early Childhood Care and Education; and Schonfeld, Kiernan and Walsh (2004) Making Connections: A review of international policies, practices and research relating to quality in early childhood care and education published by the CECDE.

Such studies have highlighted the significance of the provision of quality child care services, acknowledging the importance of merging the care and education aspects of child care. They also acknowledge the importance of appropriate curricula in the sector and the need for a highly skilled and trained workforce. Such issues are being addressed in Ireland through the National Training Strategy, the publication of Síolta, the National Quality Framework for Early Childhood Care and Education by the CECDE, and the development of the National Framework for Early Learning by NCCA. These developments together with the significant investment in infrastructure and the payments afforded to parents is evidence that the Government is increasing the availability of child care whilst also ensuring that it is affordable and of a high standard.

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