Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 11: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if correspondence has been received from an association (details supplied) outlining the concerns regarding the proposed scheme for a free pre-school year; if the concerns expressed in relation to top-up, regulation, sessional care versus full day care, parental information provision, administration, payment and quality assurance are being examined; if the scheme will be adjusted to take into account these problems; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23404/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware I have responsibility for the implementation of the new scheme to provide a free Pre- School year of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) which will be introduced from January next. The association referred to by the Deputy wrote to me on 28 April 2009 welcoming the announcement of the scheme, which will allow qualifying children to avail of a free pre-school place in the year before they commence primary school, and suggesting a number of amendments which they felt would enhance the scheme.

A comprehensive response was issued to the association on 11 May 2009. I also met with representatives of the association at that time and discussed the issues raised in their letter at some length, including the question of rateable charges being collected from many pre-school services. I have since raised this issue with my colleague, John Gormley T.D., Minister for Environment, Heritage and Local Government and am awaiting a response. I understand that the association wrote to me again on 4 June 2009 on this matter and I hope to be in a position to respond to them very shortly.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 12: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she will clarify the situation as to whether child care providers can charge more than €240 a month if they sign up to participate in the one year free child care scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [23410/09]

Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the implementation of the new scheme to provide a free Pre-School year of Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) which is being introduced from January next. The scheme will allow qualifying children to avail of a free pre-school place in the year before they commence primary school. The scheme is open to all private and voluntary pre-school services which are notified to the Health Service Executive (HSE) or registered with the Irish Montessori Educational Board (IMEB). Sessional playschools will, normally, participate in the scheme by providing the pre-school year for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week over 38 weeks while full or part-time daycare services will, normally, participate by providing the pre-school year for 2 hours, 15 minutes a day, 5 days a week over 50 weeks.

An annual capitation fee of over €2,400 will be paid to participating services in return for the provision of a free pre-school year to each child. This is equivalent to approximately €276 per month where a service is participating for 38 weeks and approximately €207 per month where it participates for 50 weeks. Services will be paid in advance at the start of each term. It is a condition of the scheme that the pre-school year is provided free of charge to parents in return for the capitation fee. However, services may charge for additional services, including additional hours, dance, etc or snacks, provided these are offered to parents on an optional basis and provided children not availing of an additional service continue to receive appropriate pre-school provision. It is a matter for each participating service to manage its overheads including the costs of meeting the statutory entitlements of employees to holiday pay, etc.