John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)
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Question 206: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the percentage and number of children in the three to four year age group here who are in receipt of pre-school education; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33603/08]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the National Childcare Investment Programme 2006-2010 (NCIP) which is the successor programme to the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) which concluded at the end of 2007. The NCIP has been allocated €575 million over 5 years, and is designed to deliver 50,000 additional childcare places. 10,000 of these places are designated for the 3 to 4 year old age group. Capital grants to develop childcare facilities are available to childcare providers in both the private and community sector.

Preliminary figures collated by Pobal, the agency which administers the Programme on behalf of my Department, indicate that at the end of September 2008, approximately 29,793 new pre-school places for 3 to 4 year olds will be created under the NCIP from capital funding committed to date. These places are in addition to the almost 40,000 new childcare places that were delivered under the EOCP, of which a large number would be in the pre-school age cohort. It should be noted that the places created under both the EOCP and NCIP represent the number of children availing of pre-school rather than the number of pre-school places. This is because more than one child may avail of a childcare place due to the sessional and part-time nature of some childcare services.

Based on the Central Statistics Office (CSO) 2006 census, the total number of 3 to 4 years in the country in 2008 is 121,126. My Office does not at present have detailed figures on childcare provision where funding has not been availed of under the EOCP or NCIP and I am unable therefore to advise the Deputy of the percentage and number of children aged 3 to 4 years who are in pre-school. I understand that officials in my Office are currently examining ways to collect broader data on pre-school service provision.