Brendan Griffin (Kerry South, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will consider expanding the childcare employment and training support scheme to include students participating in third level education courses; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47848/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

Childcare assistance was introduced in the late 1990s as a way of providing assistance to people with low skills (i.e. less than upper second level education) who faced barriers to returning to education and were distant from the labour market. As a result of a Budgetary decision, this programme has, in recent years, been restructured into the Childcare Education and Training Scheme (CETS) administered by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs.

The programmes targeted by the original programme were Youthreach, the Vocational Training Opportunities Scheme (VTOS), Senior Traveller Training Centres (STTCs) and later, the Back To Education Initiative. These programmes, with the exception of STTCs which have now closed, remain the focus of the CETS programme. It is not intended to extend the scheme further at this point.