Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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669. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the locations in which there are community creches and if it is planned to expand on these; if so, the locations, timeframe and criteria which will be used; if public buildings such as schools will be used; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14356/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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There are in excess of one thousand community/not for profit childcare services currently in contract with the Department to provide the various childcare programmes. A visual search for these providers can be carried out via Pobal Maps at maps.pobal.ie, which received a major update yesterday, June 7th. Alternatively, each of the 30 City/County Childcare Committees (CCCs) maintains lists of providers in their respective areas. A list of CCC contacts is available on my Department's website, , and links are also available through Early Childhood Ireland's website.

In response to the expansion of ECCE announced in Budget 2016, and to support the development of capacity in the sector, my Department has initiated a number of actions. The Department made detailed information available to the CCCs at the beginning of this year indicating the number of children, by every electoral division across the country, who would be eligible for an ECCE place in September 2016, January 2017 and April 2017. My Department continues to work closely with the CCCs to match this data against reported capacity in the sector to meet the increase in demand. My Department is working with the CCCs on the development of action plans for areas where a shortfall in supply may be identified.

In Budget 2016 my predecessor, Minister James Reilly, announced the opportunity for private childcare providers to participate in the Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) programme for the first time - this was to ensure that families eligible for CCS but living in an area with no community/not-for-profit childcare service could access subsidised childcare. A number of private childcare providers are now contracting with my Department and will be participating in the Community Childcare Subvention (Private) (CCSP) programme. My Department has recently (June 2nd, 2016), announced the re-opening of the contract process for CCS Private providers, and this will remain open until 1 August 2016. I intend to take further steps to promote registration of private providers in this scheme shortly.

In addition, my Department announced the introduction of an Early Years Capital Programme earlier this year with total funding of €4 million available. This funding was targeted at early years pre-school providers, both community and private, that are making alterations to their services to accommodate increased numbers of children. The maximum grant available under this programme is €10,000. The closing date for applications was 8 April, 2016 and I hope to announce the successful applicants in the coming weeks.

In relation to the use of public buildings such as schools to provide childcare, The Programme for Government indicates that community groups and private providers will be invited to tender to use school facilities - outside school hours - for childcare purposes. A cross-Departmental group has now been established to consider how best to implement this commitment, and this group met for the first time last week. Officials from my Department and the Department of Education and Skills have been tasked with the development of a joint proposal for my consideration and the consideration of my colleague in Government, Minister Richard Bruton.