Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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954. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if the entry points to the free preschool years will be reviewed given the difficulty child care providers are having coping with capacity and demand; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26767/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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In anticipation of increased demand for places in the Early Childhood Care and Education Scheme, the Department introduced a number of measures to assist Early Years providers and ensure sufficient capacity. My Department provided capital funding of €4m to services throughout the country to increase capacity. I subsequently received approval from the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform to increase this amount to €6.5m, allowing all applications that met the criteria for grant funding to be approved.

This capital scheme has already provided several thousand new places, and this number will increase as works are completed. Capitation rates for ECCE reduced in previous years were restored and I amended the rules that enable access to the higher level of capitation to make it more accessible to services. In addition, the Department has worked closely with Childcare Committees Ireland to analyse demand for places on a geographic basis, to identify any shortages in provision, and to work intensively with services in areas where shortfalls might have been expected to occur.

I am happy to report that so far there has been sufficient places to meet demand for places in the September intake, and the indication is that the January intake will also be provided for. Childcare Committees Ireland has informed me of its confidence that we will have addressed any shortfall that might arise for the April intake in time to ensure that all children will be accommodated.

The multiple entry points to ECCE was a recommendation in Right from the Start, the Report of the Expert Advisory Group on the Early Years Strategy, published in 2013. The objective of this recommendation was to ensure that all children could access free pre-school from as early as possible after their third birthday. My intention is to review the expanded ECCE scheme after the 2016-17 programme year, with a view to making any possible improvements for the next year.