Noel Coonan (Tipperary North, Fine Gael)
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Question 216: To ask the Minister for Health and Children if she has been in discussions with North Tipperary pre-school providers to determine if the new Government sponsored pre-school year has been deemed adequate by these providers in terms of the proposed fee provided by the State and if this fee will cover all costs; the number of children from the area who will be availing of the scheme; the number of service providers in North Tipperary; when the scheme will be introduced; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26091/09]

Mary Harney (Dublin Mid West, Progressive Democrats)
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As the Deputy will be aware, I have responsibility for the implementation of the new Early Childhood Care and Education scheme which provides a free Pre-School year to eligible children and which will be introduced in January 2010.

Immediately following the announcement, details regarding the scheme were communicated to the City and County Childcare Committees, including North Tipperary County Childcare Committee, and the National Voluntary Childcare Organisations, all of which are funded by my Office. The scheme was subsequently discussed with them in depth at a special seminar held on 7 May 2009. I have also had a number of meetings, since the announcement of the scheme, with the National Voluntary Childcare Organisations who represent the views of their members throughout the country and I have listened carefully to what they had to say. Where possible, issues raised by the sector have been taken into account in the terms and conditions governing the scheme.

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.

Each participating service will have to meet the costs of the new free pre-school year from the capitation provided under the scheme. However, it is noted that services participating in the scheme may charge parents for additional services which they provide, including additional hours and additional activities or services provided these are offered on an optional basis to parents and provided appropriate programme based activities are provided to children not participating in an additional activity

The scheme is open to approximately 4,800 pre-school services operating in the State, including full and part-time daycare services as well as sessional playschool services. My Office recently wrote to these services inviting them to participate in the scheme and enclosing application forms and other relevant information. It is expected that the application process will be completed by the end of September 2009 and following this a list of participating services in each area will be available to each City and County Childcare Committee.

Many of the services expected to participate in the new scheme will have already received capital grant aid under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) and or the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP). More than 65,000 additional child care places will have been created by the end of 2010 as a result of this investment. I am aware from representations received from pre-school services in recent months that many are currently reporting vacancy rates of up to 25% in their facilities. I am also aware of a number of people now considering investing in a child care business of their own, many of them existing qualified child care workers. Also, many services which to date have only been open in the morning, citing lack of demand for an afternoon session, are now considering offering an additional session to meet an increase in local demand. My Office and the City and County Childcare Committees will monitor the situation carefully, following the implementation of the scheme, to ensure that the beneficial impact of the scheme for parents and children is maximised.