Kathleen Funchion (Carlow-Kilkenny, Sinn Fein)
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35. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs the strategy in place to extend the community childcare subvention programme those who are most in need of it; her plans to expand the numbers who can avail of the scheme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14843/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Community Childcare Subvention (CCS) Programme was designed to support disadvantaged parents, parents in low-paid employment and parents in training or education by enabling those who qualify to avail of reduced childcare costs at participating community or not-for-profit childcare services.

Due to economic constraints, Budget 2012 closed the CCS Programme to new applications from community/not-for-profit childcare services wishing to enter the CCS Programme and to the expansion of services by existing CCS providers. Using savings from 2015, my Department was able to announce additional CCS places in late 2015. Under Budget 2016, my Department lifted the previous restrictions as part of a major package of strategic investment in affordable, quality and accessible childcare. This allowed existing Community Services to provide for more families eligible for CCS, and it allowed Community Services who had not been able to provide CCS to offer this programme for the first time. The Budget 2016 package included a further €16m investment in the expansion of the CCS Programme in a targeted manner, providing support for 8,000 additional places at current usage patterns. These new childcare places will be available through community/not-for-profit childcare providers and, for the first time, through private childcare providers.

In recognition of the significant barriers childcare presents to parents wanting to take up employment, education or training, and the complexities of working through the different childcare programmes funded by my Department, the Budget 2016 package also funded the establishment of a dedicated Project Team to develop a Single Affordable Childcare Programme to provide for a more streamlined eligibility criteria that will assist families to avail of good quality childcare at a cost they can afford. Work on the Affordable Childcare Programme has begun and it is expected to be in place by the end of 2017. This single programme will replace the existing CCS, along with the Training and Employment Childcare programmes, comprising the After-School Childcare, Childcare Education and Training Support, and Community Employment Childcare. It will provide a new simplified subsidy programme, available through both community/not-for-profit and private childcare providers. The programme will also provide a robust platform for future investment through which a number of commitments in the Programme for Government can be delivered, while ensuring that childcare is more affordable for those who are most in need.