Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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99. To ask the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs if she will consider the benefits that would come from improving the quality of the current child care system by extending the early childhood care education scheme and establishing formal after school care programmes; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29941/16]

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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My Department is committed to the provision of high quality and affordable childcare, with a number of initiatives being progressed.

From September 2016, the extension of ECCE made free pre-school available, for 15 hours per week, for 38 weeks per annum, to all children from the time they turn three, until they go to school. Children can enter at three points in the year: September, January and April. On average, children will benefit from 61 weeks, up from the previous provision of 38 weeks. Access to the average 61 weeks of ECCE can reduce the cost of childcare by €4000 per child. The previous ECCE programme accommodated 67,000 children and this figure will increase to 127,000 next year.

As part of Budget 2017, my Department announced the introduction of the Single Affordable Childcare Scheme, a new national scheme of financial supports for parents towards the cost of their childcare. The scheme will replace the existing targeted childcare subsidisation schemes with a single, streamlined and more user-friendly scheme. The scheme will provide a system from which universal and targeted subsidies can be provided towards the cost of childcare.

It is intended that the new Single Affordable Childcare Scheme will 'wraparound' the ECCE programme so that the two schemes align seamlessly to support access to early childhood care and education. The two schemes will not be mutually exclusive, in that it will be possible for a child to be simultaneously supported via the ECCE programme and the proposed Single Affordable Scheme, once they meet the qualifying criteria for each.

The 2016 Programme for a Partnership Government contained two specific commitments in relation to School Age children. The first was a commitment to introduce a new system to support and expand quality after school care, and the second was in relation to utilising primary school buildings for after school care provision. In view of these commitments the Ministers for Children and Youth Affairs and for Education and Skills requested senior officials from their Departments to establish a group to consider how best the commitments could be delivered. The Inter-Departmental Group on School Age Childcare was established in June 2016 and is due to report shortly.

As part of its work, the Group has considered and assessed the many issues surrounding this commitment, and the funding implications of implementing an after-school scheme for school-aged children.

Matters to be considered by the Inter-Departmental group included the demand for services and the capacity to provide these and the development of an appropriate quality and standards framework. In addition, the group will gather data, including existing use of school buildings, and consider collaborative models with existing community or private service providers.

The Department of Children and Youth Affairs has also undertaken consultations with children to identify what children like and dislike about afterschool care and to identify the places where children most like to be cared for after school. The Inter-Departmental group will consider the voice of the child as part of its deliberations.