Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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Pobal acts as an intermediary for programmes funded by my Department and carries out significant work in the fields of programme development and management, project assessment, financial management and accountability, compliance, audit, data capture, monitoring and evaluation. Pobal also plays an active role in supporting recipients of programme funding to manage their services and to implement projects at national and local level.

Services provided by Pobal in relation to the childcare programmes operated by my Department include the administration of payments in respect of the targeted childcare programmes and, since 2016, the administration of payments in respect of the ECCE programme. Pobal also manage capital programmes including the Early Years Capital scheme on behalf of my Department and a number of other schemes as well as acting as management agent for the Department in relation to the performance of County/City Childcare Committees and National Voluntary Childcare Organisations. By end 2016, I anticipate that Pobal will have received funding of approximately €7m in respect of the provision of these services in 2016.

Katherine Zappone (Dublin South West, Independent)
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The Better Start Quality Development Service is a national initiative established by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs (DCYA) to bring an integrated national approach to developing quality in Early Years Education and Care (ECEC) for children aged from birth to six years in Ireland. It is intended to coordinate and extend the wide-ranging choice of supports and services already provided through City and County Childcare Committees and Voluntary Childcare Organisations. €2.9m has been allocated to this in 2016, and I anticipate that this will be drawn down in its entirety prior to year end.

In addition, my Department has funded 50 Early Years Inclusion Service posts nationwide through the Better Start programme to provide supports to childcare providers implementing the Access and Inclusion Model (AIM). Funding of over €4m has been allocated to this in 2016.