Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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148. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the total spend to date on the following two DCYA training funds for early childhood services, that is, the support and training fund in 2013 totalling €0.9 million and the learner fund in 2014/15 totalling €3 million; and if he will provide a breakdown of funding allocated by county by county in a tabular form in respect of funding uptake. [38995/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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As part of the ongoing progression of the Early Years Quality Agenda, it was announced last year that by September 2015 all staff working directly with children in the 0-6 years age category in early years services would have to have a minimum Level 5 qualification on the National Qualifications Framework in early years care and education, or an equivalent qualification. This requirement will apply to new services from September 2014.

In addition to the general requirement for a Level 5 qualification, pre-school leaders delivering the free pre-school provision to children in the age category 3 years 2 months to 4 years 7 months under the Early Childhood Care and Education programme, who are currently required to hold a Level 5 qualification, will have to have a minimum Level 6 qualification, or equivalent, by September 2015.

In 2013, €0.9 million was made available to my Department to support existing staff working in the childcare sector to meet the new requirements. As a result, my Department agreed to increase the annual grant funding provided in 2013 to Early Childhood Ireland, a national voluntary organisation that promotes quality care and education for young children, in return for the provision of additional accredited training for existing childcare staff. The objective of the funding is to ensure that all existing staff are in a position to meet the minimum Level 5 qualification requirement to enable them to continue to work in the childcare sector and that staff seeking to fill the role of Pre-school Leader under the Early Childhood Care and Education programme are assisted to obtain the required Level 6 qualification.

To further support childcare staff, the Learner Fund was launched in March this year. The Fund, which is being administered by Pobal with the help of local City and County Childcare Committees, has a total allocation of €3 million for the years 2014 and 2015 and is being targeted to subsidise the cost for childcare staff who are required to undertake accredited Level 5 and Level 6 courses.

The funding provided under both initiatives will be drawn down in 2014 and 2015 to support staff seeking to meet the new qualification requirements. Figures provided by Pobal and shown in the attached tables outline the overall funding provided to date to Early Childhood Ireland and also the funding allocated and paid to date to support training under the Learner Fund in each county.

Support Training Fund