Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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182. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the community grant afforded to those in community childcare facilities includes training for staff in first aid and other child care courses; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4658/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I assume that the Deputy is referring to the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme which is implemented by my Department. The CCS programme provides funding to community childcare not-for-profit services to enable them to charge reduced childcare rates to parents in receipt of social welfare payments or on low to middle incomes.

Community childcare services qualify for grant aid on the basis of the level of service they provide and the profile of the parents benefiting from their service. The objective of the funding provided under the programme is to ensure that disadvantaged and low income families can have access to quality childcare support. Parents qualifying for subvention support under the programme can have up to €95 per week deducted from the overall charge. The weekly difference between the subvention support and overall cost of providing the service must be met by the parent.

Services participating in the programme are subject to the Child Care (Pre-School Services) (No 2) Regulations 2006 and must satisfy the requirements of these regulations in relation to first aid and staffing issues. It is a matter for the childcare provider to ensure the staff employed in their service is sufficiently trained and there is no specific provision in the CCS programme to support these or other training requirements.