Billy Timmins (Wicklow, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

349. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs his views on correspondence (details supplied) regarding childcare providers; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [39785/14]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department implements the Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme, the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme and three Training and Employment Childcare (TEC) programmes - the Childcare Education and Training Support (CETS) programme, the Community Employment Childcare (CEC) programme and the Afterschool Childcare (ASCC) programme - which provide childcare supports to eligible parents returning to work or to education. These programmes represent an annual investment of almost €260 million in childcare supports with more than 80% of this funding provided through the ECCE and CCS programmes.

In the case of the ECCE and CCS programmes, preliminary payments to participating childcare providers are made prior to the submission of the annual enrolment returns at the beginning of the school year and subsequent payments are made in advance of each school term.

The process involved in making payments under the TEC programmes does not allow for advance or immediate payment as qualifying parents become eligible for support whenever work or training opportunities commence. The information relating to qualifying parents and the services in which they have enrolled their children is forwarded through the City and County Childcare Committees (CCCs) to this Department for processing. The actual payment is made by Pobal following receipt of the payment details from this Department. There is a delay, therefore, between the time a child actually takes up a TEC place and the completion of the payment process with the result that the payments will normally involve some element of back payment and an advance payment.

The length of the back payment can vary, but the longest period of back payment normally occurs at this time of year. This is primarily due to the volume of parents starting education or training programmes at the commencement of the school year in September, and whose childcare needs are catered for under the CETS element of the TEC programmes.

I am aware of the considerable adjustments that childcare providers have made to facilitate the introduction and implementation of the childcare support programme in recent years. I understand how the payment process in relation to the TEC programmes can result in problems for participating childcare services. The issue of how support programme payments are made is being addressed and my Department is currently finalising the migration of the payment process for all our programmes into a new on-line database system, to which childcare services will have direct access to input relevant details. This new system will substantially reduce the delays caused by the transmission of information and will allow for more frequent and prompt payments to be made.