Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 72: To ask the Minister for Health and Children the number of preschool providers and the number of pre-school places which have to date signed up to participate in the new Government sponsored early childhood scheme; the number in Dublin and the number outside of Dublin; if the proposed fee to be provided by the State has been analysed to establish the extent to which it covers the full cost of the provision of such services in Dublin with its higher rent, rates, insurance and living costs compared to rural areas; and if he will make a statement on the viability of a uniform charge with no facility for top up charges. [24194/09]

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 in Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE), which was announced recently by the Minister of Finance.

The Childcare Directorate of my Office recently wrote to almost 5,000 pre-school service providers in the State, inviting them to participate in the new scheme. These included pre-school service providers who are notified to the Health Service Executive (HSE) or registered with the Irish Montessori Education Board (IMEB) as a number of other persons who have expressed an interest in establishing a pre-school service and participating in the scheme. Application forms and other relevant information regarding the scheme were included with this correspondence and these are now being returned by services to their local city or county child care committees, with a closing date for response of 10 July 2009. The first tranche of application forms is expected to be processed by the child care committees and returned to the Childcare Directorate in my Office on 26 June 2009. As a result, it is not possible to advise the Deputy at this point in regard to the number of providers who have applied to date or the number of places which they will provide and whether these will be in Dublin or outside of the Dublin area.

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. The capitation fee and its application on a weekly basis are considered reasonable. Approximately 1,000 community child care services, most of which are expected to apply for entry into the new scheme, already participate in the Community Childcare Subvention Scheme (CCSS). The average fee charged for a sessional pre-school place in these services is €50 per week. The ECCE capitation fee also compares very favourably to that paid to private and voluntary pre-school services under the Pre-School Programme Expansion Scheme operated in Northern Ireland which amounts to approximately £30 per week.