Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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611. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the cost of providing one month of free preschool care. [37725/15]

James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael)
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The Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programme currently provides a free pre-school year to all eligible children before commencing primary school. Funding of over €170 million is provided for the ECCE programme annually in which some 67,000 children participate.

This programme is delivered for three hours per day, five days per week, over 38 weeks (183 days per year), and capitation fees are paid to participating services on the basis of this provision. The standard capitation fee is currently €62.50 per week per eligible child with a higher capitation fee of €73 per week for services with more highly qualified staff. The cost of increasing the number of weeks from 38 to 42 (i.e. by 4 weeks) (under the current programme and capitation rates) would be an additional €20 million per annum approximately.