Seán Conlan (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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488. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will provide funding for a preschool (details supplied) in Corcaghan, County Monaghan; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [15362/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Capital funding in the region of €420 million was provided to community and commercial child care providers in the period 2000 to 2008 for the refurbishment and development of child care facilities under the Equal Opportunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP). Because of the economic difficulties it has not been possible to provide any substantial capital funding to support developments in the child care sector since 2009. I did secure capital funding totalling €6m in Budget 2012 to provide for the refurbishment of services in which substantial Government capital and support funding had already been invested. I was also successful in securing €2.75m in capital funding in Budget 2013 to support the ongoing improvement of established child care services participating in one or more of the child care support programmes implemented by my Department. While I hope to be in a position to allocate further capital funding to child care providers for the refurbishment of child care facilities, I do not expect that this funding will be sufficient to provide for any large scale developments.